Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Oilseeds

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Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources

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Chittaranjan Kole Editor

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources Oilseeds

Editor Prof. Chittaranjan Kole Director of Research Institute of Nutraceutical Research Clemson University 109 Jordan Hall Clemson, SC 29634 [email protected]

ISBN 978-3-642-14870-5 e-ISBN 978-3-642-14871-2 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-14871-2 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2011922649 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: deblik, Berlin Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

Dedication

Dr. Norman Ernest Borlaug,1 the Father of Green Revolution, is well respected for his contributions to science and society. There was or is not and never will be a single person on this Earth whose single-handed service to science could save millions of people from death due to starvation over a period of over four decades like Dr. Borlaug’s. Even the Nobel Peace Prize he received in 1970 does not do such a great and noble person as Dr. Borlaug justice. His life and contributions are well known and will remain in the pages of history of science. I wish here only to share some facets of this elegant and ideal personality I had been blessed to observe during my personal interactions with him. It was early 2007 while I was at the Clemson University as a visiting scientist one of my lab colleagues told me that “somebody wants to talk to you; he appears to be an old man”. I took the telephone receiver casually and said hello. The response from the other side was – “I am Norman Borlaug; am I talking to Chitta?” Even a million words would be insufficient to define and depict the exact feelings and thrills I experienced at that moment!

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The photo of Dr. Borlaug was kindly provided by Julie Borlaug (Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, Texas A&M Agriculture) the granddaughter of Dr. Borlaug.

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I had seen Dr. Borlaug only once, way back in 1983, when he came to New Delhi, India to deliver the Coromandal Lecture organized by Prof. M.S. Swaminathan on the occasion of the 15th International Genetic Congress. However, my real interaction with him began in 2004 when I had been formulating a 7-volume book series entitled Genome Mapping and Molecular Breeding in Plants. Initially, I was neither confident of my ability as a series/book editor nor of the quality of the contents of the book volumes. I sent an email to Dr. Borlaug attaching the table of contents and the tentative outline of the chapters along with manuscripts of only a few sample chapters, including one authored by me and others, to learn about his views as a source of inspiration (or caution!) I was almost sure that a person of his stature would have no time and purpose to get back to a small science worker like me. To my utter (and pleasant) surprise I received an email from him that read: “May all Ph.D.’s, future scientists, and students that are devoted to agriculture get an inspiration as it refers to your work or future work from the pages of this important book. My wholehearted wishes for a success on your important job”. I got a shot in my arm (and in mind for sure)! Rest is a pleasant experience – the seven volumes were published by Springer in 2006 and 2007, and were welcome and liked by students, scientists and their societies, libraries, and industries. As a token of my humble regards and gratitude, I sent Dr. Borlaug the Volume I on Cereals and Millets that was published in 2006. And here started my discovery of the simplest person on Earth who solved the most complex and critical problem of people on it – hunger and death. Just one month after receiving the volume, Dr. Borlaug called me one day and said, “Chitta, you know I cannot read a lot now-a-days, but I have gone through only on the chapters on wheat, maize and rice. Please excuse me. Other chapters of this and other volumes of the series will be equally excellent, I believe”. He was highly excited to know that many other Nobel Laureates including Profs. Arthur Kornberg, Werner Arber, Phillip Sharp, G€ unter Blobel, and Lee Hartwell also expressed generous comments regarding the utility and impact of the book series on science and the academic society. While we were discussing many other textbooks and review book series that I was editing at that time, again in my night hours for the benefit of students, scientists, and industries, he became emotional and said to me, “Chitta, forget about your original contributions to basic and applied sciences, you deserved Nobel Prize for Peace like me for providing academic foods to millions of starving students and scientists over the world particularly in the developing countries. I will recommend your name for the World Food Prize, but it will not do enough justice to the sacrifice you are doing for science and society in your sleepless nights over so many years. Take some rest Chitta and give time to Phullara, Sourav and Devleena” (he was so particular to ask about my wife and our kids during most of our conversations). I felt honored but really very ashamed as I am aware of my almost insignificant contribution in comparison to his monumental contribution and thousands of scientists over the world are doing at least hundred-times better jobs than me as scientist or author/editor of books! So, I was unable to utter any words for a couple of minutes but realized later that he must been too affectionate to me and his huge affection is the best award for a small science worker as me! In another occasion he wanted some documents from me. I told him that I will send them as attachments in emails. Immediately he shouted and told me: “You know, Julie (his granddaughter) is not at home now and I cannot check email myself. Julie does this for me. I can type myself in type writer but I am not good in computer. You know what, I have a xerox machine and it receives fax also. Send me

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the documents by fax”. Here was the ever-present child in him. Julie emailed me later to send the documents as attachment to her as the ‘xerox machine’ of Dr. Borlaug ran out of ink! Another occasion is when I was talking with him in a low voice, and he immediately chided me: “You know that I cannot hear well now-a-days; I don’t know where Julie has kept the hearing apparatus, can’t you speak louder?” Here was the fatherly figure who was eager to hear each of my words! I still shed tears when I remember during one of our telephone conversations he asked: “You know I have never seen you, can you come to Dallas in the near future by chance?” I remember we were going through a financial paucity at that time and I could not make a visit to Dallas (Texas) to see him, though it would have been a great honor. In late 2007, whenever I tried to talk to Dr. Borlaug, he used to beckon Julie to bring the telephone to him, and in course of time Julie used to keep alive all the communications between us when he slowly succumbed to his health problems. The remaining volumes of the Genome Mapping and Molecular Breeding in Plants series were published in 2007, and I sent him all the seven volumes. I wished to learn about his views. During this period he could not speak and write well. Julie prepared a letter based on his words to her that read: “Dear Chitta, I have reviewed the seven volumes of the series on Genome Mapping and Molecular Breeding in Plants, which you have authored. You have brought together genetic linkage maps based on molecular markers for the most important crop species that will be a valuable guide and tool to further molecular crop improvements. Congratulations for a job well done”. During one of our conversations in mid-2007, he asked me what other book projects I was planning for Ph.D. students and scientists (who had always been his all-time beloved folks). I told him that the wealth of wild species already utilized and to be utilized for genetic analysis and improvement of domesticated crop species have not been deliberated in any book project. He was very excited and told me to take up the book project as soon as possible. But during that period I had a huge commitment to editing a number of book volumes and could not start the series he was so interested about. His sudden demise in September 2009 kept me so morose for a number of months that I could not even communicate my personal loss to Julie. But in the meantime, I formulated a 10-volume series on Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources for Springer. And whom else to dedicate this series to other than Dr. Borlaug! I wrote to Julie for her formal permission and she immediately wrote me: “Chitta, Thank you for contacting me and yes I think my grandfather would be honored with the dedication of the series. I remember him talking of you and this undertaking quite often. Congratulations on all that you have accomplished!” This helped me a lot as I could at least feel consoled that I could do a job he wanted me to do and I will always remain grateful to Julie for this help and also for taking care of Dr. Borlaug, not only as his granddaughter but also as the representative of millions of poor people from around the world and hundreds of plant and agricultural scientists who try to follow his philosophy and worship him as a father figure. It is another sad experience of growing older in life that we walk alone and miss the affectionate shadows, inspirations, encouragements, and blessings from the fatherly figures in our professional and personal lives. How I wish I could treat my next generations in the same way as personalities like Mother Teresa and Dr. Norman Borlaug and many other great people from around the world treated me!

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Dedication

During most of our conversations he used to emphasize on the immediate impact of research on the society and its people. A couple of times he even told me that my works on molecular genetics and biotechnology, particularly of 1980s and 1990s, have high fundamental importance, but I should also do some works that will benefit people immediately. This advice elicited a change in my thoughts and workplans and since then I have been devotedly endeavoring to develop crop varieties enriched with phytomedicines and nutraceuticals. Borlaug influenced both my personal and professional life, particularly my approach to science, and I dedicate this series to him in remembrance of his great contribution to science and society and for all his personal affection, love and blessings for me. I emailed the above draft of the dedication page to Julie for her views and I wish to complete my humble dedication with great satisfaction with the words of Julie who served as the living ladder for me to reach and stay closer to such as great human being as Dr. Borlaug and express my deep regards and gratitude to her. Julie’s email read: “Chitta, Thank you for sending me the draft dedication page. I really enjoyed reading it and I think you captured my grandfather’s spirit wonderfully. . .. So thank you very much for your beautiful words. I know he would be and is honored.” Clemson, USA

Chittaranjan Kole

Preface

Wild crop relatives have been playing enormously important roles both in the depiction of plant genomes and the genetic improvement of their cultivated counterparts. They have contributed immensely to resolving several fundamental questions, particularly those related to the origin, evolution, phylogenetic relationship, cytological status and inheritance of genes of an array of crop plants; provided several desirable donor genes for the genetic improvement of their domesticated counterparts; and facilitated the innovation of many novel concepts and technologies while working on them directly or while using their resources. More recently, they have even been used for the verification of their potential threats of gene flow from genetically modified plants and invasive habits. Above all, some of them are contributing enormously as model plant species to the elucidation and amelioration of the genomes of crop plant species. As a matter of fact, as a student, a teacher, and a humble science worker I was, still am and surely will remain fascinated by the wild allies of crop plants for their invaluable wealth for genetics, genomics and breeding in crop plants and as such share a deep concern for their conservation and comprehensive characterization for future utilization. It is by now a well established fact that wild crop relatives deserve serious attention for domestication, especially for the utilization of their phytomedicines and nutraceuticals, bioenergy production, soil reclamation, and the phytoremediation of ecology and environment. While these vastly positive impacts of wild crop relatives on the development and deployment of new varieties for various purposes in the major crop plants of the world agriculture, along with a few negative potential concerns, are envisaged the need for reference books with comprehensive deliberations on the wild relatives of all the major field and plantation crops and fruit and forest trees is indeed imperative. This was the driving force behind the inception and publication of this series. Unlike the previous six book projects I have edited alone or with co-editors, this time it was very difficult to formulate uniform outlines for the chapters of this book series for several obvious reasons. Firstly, the status of the crop relatives is highly diverse. Some of them are completely wild, some are sporadically cultivated and some are at the initial stage of domestication for specific breeding objectives recently deemed essential. Secondly, the status of their conservation varies widely: some have been conserved, characterized and utilized; some have been eroded completely except for their presence in their center(s) of origin; some are at-risk or endangered due to genetic erosion, and some of them have yet to be explored. The third constraint is the variation in their relative worth, e.g. as academic model, breeding resource, and/or potential as “new crops.” ix

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The most perplexing problem for me was to assign the chapters each on a particular genus to different volumes dedicated to crop relatives of diverse crops grouped based on their utility. This can be exemplified with Arabidopsis, which has primarily benefited the Brassicaceae crops but also facilitated genetic analyses and improvement in crop plants in other distant families; or with many wild relatives of forage crops that paved the way for the genetic analyses and breeding of some major cereal and millet crops. The same is true for wild crop relatives such as Medicago truncatula, which has paved the way for in-depth research on two crop groups of diverse use: oilseed and pulse crops belonging to the Fabaceae family. The list is too long to enumerate. I had no other choice but to compromise and assign the genera of crop relatives in a volume on the crop group to which they are taxonomically the closest and to which they have relatively greater contributions. For example, I placed the chapter on genus Arabidopsis in the volume on oilseeds, which deals with the wild relatives of Brassicaceae crops amongst others. However, we have tried to include deliberations pertinent to the individual genera of the wild crop relatives to which the chapters are devoted. Descriptions of the geographical locations of origin and genetic diversity, geographical distribution, karyotype and genome size, morphology, etc. have been included for most of them. Their current utility status – whether recognized as model species, weeds, invasive species or potentially cultivable taxa – is also delineated. The academic, agricultural, medicinal, ecological, environmental and industrial potential of both the cultivated and/or wild allied taxa are discussed. The conservation of wild crop relatives is a much discussed yet equally neglected issue albeit the in situ and ex situ conservations of some luckier species were initiated earlier or are being initiated now. We have included discussions on what has happened and what is happening with regard to the conservation of the crop relatives, thanks to the national and international endeavors, in most of the chapters and also included what should happen for the wild relatives of the so-called new, minor, orphan or future crops. The botanical origin, evolutionary pathway and phylogenetic relationship of crop plants have always attracted the attention of plant scientists. For these studies morphological attributes, cytological features and biochemical parameters were used individually or in combinations at different periods based on the availability of the required tools and techniques. Access to different molecular markers based on nuclear and especially cytoplasmic DNAs that emerged after 1980 refined the strategies required for precise and unequivocal conclusions regarding these aspects. Illustrations of these classical and recent tools have been included in the chapters. Positioning genes and defining gene functions required in many cases different cytogenetic stocks, including substitution lines, addition lines, haploids, monoploids and aneuploids, particularly in polyploid crops. These aspects have been dealt in the relevant chapters. Employment of colchiploidy, fluorescent or genomic in situ hybridization and Southern hybridization have reinforced the theoretical and applied studies on these stocks. Chapters on relevant genera/species include details on these cytogenetic stocks. Wild crop relatives, particularly wild allied species and subspecies, have been used since the birth of genetics in the twentieth century in several instances such as studies of inheritance, linkage, function, transmission and evolution of genes. They have been frequently used in genetic studies since the advent of molecular markers. Their involvement in molecular mapping has facilitated the development of mapping

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populations with optimum polymorphism to construct saturated maps and also illuminating the organization, reorganization and functional aspects of genes and genomes. Many phenomena such as genomic duplication, genome reorganization, self-incompatibility, segregation distortion, transgressive segregation and defining genes and their phenotypes have in many cases been made possible due to the utilization of wild species or subspecies. Most of the chapters contain detailed elucidations on these aspects. The richness of crop relatives with biotic and abiotic stress resistance genes was well recognized and documented with the transfer of several alien genes into their cultivated counterparts through wide or distant hybridization with or without employing embryo-rescue and mutagenesis. However, the amazing revelation that the wild relatives are also a source of yield-related genes is a development of the molecular era. Apomictic genes are another asset of many crop relatives that deserve mention. All of these past and the present factors have led to the realization that the so-called inferior species are highly superior in conserving desirable genes and can serve as a goldmine for breeding elite plant varieties. This is particularly true at a point when natural genetic variability has been depleted or exhausted in most of the major crop species, particularly due to growing and promoting only a handful of so-called high-yielding varieties while disregarding the traditional cultivars and landraces. In the era of molecular breeding, we can map desirable genes and polygenes, identify their donors and utilize tightly linked markers for gene introgression, mitigating the constraint of linkage drag, and even pyramid genes from multiple sources, cultivated or wild taxa. The evaluation of primary, secondary and tertiary gene pools and utilization of their novel genes is one of the leading strategies in present-day plant breeding. It is obvious that many wide hybridizations will never be easy and involve near-impossible constraints such as complete or partial sterility. In such cases gene cloning and gene discovery, complemented by intransgenic breeding, will hopefully pave the way for success. The utilization of wild relatives through traditional and molecular breeding has been thoroughly enumerated over the chapters throughout this series. Enormous genomic resources have been developed in the model crop relatives, for example Arabidopsis thaliana and Medicago truncatula. BAC, cDNA and EST libraries have also been developed in some other crop relatives. Transcriptomes and metabolomes have also been dissected in some of them. However, similar genomic resources are yet to be constructed in many crop relatives. Hence this section has been included only in chapters on the relevant genera. In this book series, we have included a section on recommendations for future steps to create awareness about the wealth of wild crop relatives in society at large and also for concerns for their alarmingly rapid decrease due to genetic erosion. The authors of the chapters have also emphasized on the imperative requirement of their conservation, envisaging the importance of biodiversity. The importance of intellectual property rights and also farmers’ rights as owners of local landraces, botanical varieties, wild species and subspecies has also been dealt in many of the chapters. I feel satisfied that the authors of the chapters in this series have deliberated on all the crucial aspects relevant to a particular genus in their chapters. I am also very pleased to present many chapters in this series authored by a large number of globally reputed leading scientists, many of whom have contributed to the development of novel concepts, strategies and tools of genetics, genomics and breeding and/or pioneered the elucidation and improvement of particular plant

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genomes using both traditional and molecular tools. Many of them have already retired or will be retiring soon, leaving behind their legacies and philosophies for us to follow and practice. I am saddened that a few of them have passed away during preparation of the manuscripts for this series. At the same time, I feel blessed that all of these stalwarts shared equally with me the wealth of crop relatives and contributed to their recognition and promotion through this endeavor. I would also like to be candid with regard to my own limitations. Initially I planned for about 150 chapters devoted to the essential genera of wild crop relatives. However, I had to exclude some of them either due to insignificant progress made on them during the preparation of this series, my failure to identify interested authors willing to produce acceptable manuscripts in time or authors’ backing out in the last minute, leaving no time to find replacements. I console myself for this lapse with the rationale that it is simply too large a series to achieve complete satisfaction on the contents. Still I was able to arrange about 125 chapters in the ten volumes, contributed by nearly 400 authors from over 40 countries of the world. I extend my heartfelt thanks to all these scientists, who have cooperated with me since the inception of this series not only with their contributions, but also in some cases by suggesting suitable authors for chapters on other genera. As happens with a megaseries, a few authors had delays for personal or professional reasons, and in a few cases, for no reason at all. This caused delays in the publication of some of the volumes and forced the remaining authors to update their manuscripts and wait too long to see their manuscripts in published form. I do shoulder all the responsibilities for this myself and tender my sincere apologies. Another unique feature of this series is that the authors of chapters dedicated to some genera have dedicated their chapters to scientists who pioneered the exploration, description and utilization of the wild species of those genera. We have duly honored their sincere decision with equal respect for the scientists they rightly reminded us to commemorate. Editing this series was, to be honest, very taxing and painstaking, as my own expertise is limited to a few cereal, oilseed, pulse, vegetable, and fruit crops, and some medicinal and aromatic plants. I spent innumerable nights studying to attain the minimum eligibility to edit the manuscripts authored by experts with even life-time contributions on the concerned genera or species. However, this indirectly awakened the “student-for-life” within me and enriched my arsenal with so many new concepts, strategies, tools, techniques and even new terminologies! Above all, this helped me to realize that individually we know almost nothing about the plants on this planet! And this realization strikingly reminded me of the affectionate and sincere advice of Dr. Norman Borlaug to keep abreast with what is happening in the crop sciences, which he used to do himself even when he had been advised to strictly limit himself to bed rest. He was always enthusiastic about this series and inspired me to take up this huge task. This is one of the personal and professional reasons I dedicated this book series to him with a hope that the present and future generations of plant scientists will share the similar feelings of love and respect for all plants around us for the sake of meeting our never-ending needs for food, shelter, clothing, medicines, and all other items used for our basic requirements and comfort. I am also grateful to his granddaughter, Julie Borlaug, for kindly extending her permission to dedicate this series to him. I started editing books with the 7-volume series on Genome Mapping and Molecular Breeding in Plants with Springer way back in 2005, and I have since

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edited many other book series with Springer. I always feel proud and satisfied to be a member of the Springer family, particularly because of my warm and enriching working relationship with Dr. Sabine Schwarz and Dr. Jutta Lindenborn, with whom I have been working all along. My special thanks go out to them for publishing this “dream series” in an elegant form and also for appreciating my difficulties and accommodating many of my last-minute changes and updates. I would be remiss in my duties if I failed to mention the contributions of Phullara – my wife, friend, philosopher and guide – who has always shared with me a love of the collection, conservation, evaluation, and utilization of wild crop relatives and has enormously supported me in the translation of these priorities in my own research endeavors – for her assistance in formulating the contents of this series, for monitoring its progress and above all for taking care of all the domestic and personal responsibilities I am supposed to shoulder. I feel myself alien to the digital world that is the sine qua non today for maintaining constant communication and ensuring the preparation of manuscripts in a desirable format. Our son Sourav and daughter Devleena made my life easier by balancing out my limitations and also by willingly sacrificing the spare amount of time I ought to spend with them. Editing of this series would not be possible without their unwavering support. I take the responsibility for any lapses in content, format and approach of the series and individual volumes and also for any other errors, either scientific or linguistic, and will look forward to receiving readers’ corrections or suggestions for improvement. As I mentioned earlier this series consists of ten volumes. These volumes are dedicated to wild relatives of Cereals, Millets and Grasses, Oilseeds, Legume Crops and Forages, Vegetables, Temperate Fruits, Tropical and Subtropical Fruits, Industrial Crops, Plantation and Ornamental Crops, and Forest Trees. This volume “Wild Crop Relatives – Genomic and Breeding Resources: Oilseeds” includes 17 chapters dedicated to Arabidopsis, Brassica, Capsella, Carthamus, Crambe, Cuphea, Diplotaxix, Eruca, Helianthus, Hirschfeldia, Linum, Moricandia, Orychophragmus, Pachycladon, Ricinus, Sesamum and Sinapsis. The chapters of this volume were authored by 33 scientists from 11 countries of the world including Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, UK and USA. It is my sincere hope that this volume and the series as a whole will serve the requirements of students, scientists and industries involved in studies, teaching, research and the extension of oilseed crops with an intention of serving science and society. Clemson, USA

Chittaranjan Kole

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Contents

1

Arabidopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ramesh Katam, Dilip R. Panthee, Anjanabha Bhattacharya, Sheikh M. Basha, and Chittaranjan Kole

2

Brassica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ferdinando Branca and Elena Cartea

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3

Capsella . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pietro P.M. Iannetta

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4

Carthamus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deepmala Sehgal and Soom Nath Raina

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5

Crambe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eicke Rudloff and Youping Wang

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6

Cuphea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Jan Olejniczak

7

Diplotaxis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Domenico Pignone and Juan B. Martıńez-Laborde

8

Eruca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Domenico Pignone and Ce´sar Go´mez-Campo

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Helianthus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Felicity Vear

10

Hirschfeldia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Johannes Siemens

11

Linum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Christopher Cullis

12

Moricandia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Muhammad Tahir and Roger Watts

13

Orychophragmus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Li Rong Zhou, Jun Wu, and Shenghua Wang

14

Pachycladon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Krithika Yogeeswaran, Claudia Voelckel, Simon Joly, and Peter B. Heenan

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Contents

15

Ricinus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 J. Bradley Morris, Ming Li Wang, and Stephen A. Morse

16

Sesamum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Padma Nimmakayala, Ramasamy Perumal, Sujatha Mulpuri, and Umesh K. Reddy

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Sinapis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Hendrik Winter

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Abbreviations

2,4-D 3MSOP 3MTP 4MSOB 7MSOH ACT ADH Adh AFLP AICORPO Ala AMOVA AOP2 Arg AROS ARS As Asp atpA atpB atpa AWC BAC BAP BApNA BC BCgDFS BEAST BGCI BGV BLAST BolDFS BoS Bras-EDB C:12 C:14

2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid 3-Methylsulfinylpropyl glucosinolate 3-Methlythiopropyl glucosinolate 4-Methylsulfinylbutyl gucosinolate 7-Methylsulfinylheptyl glucosinolate Acyl carrier thioesterase Alcohol dehydrogenase Alcohol dehydrogenase gene Amplified fragment length polymorphism All India Coordinated Research Project on Oilseeds Alanine Analysis of molecular variance 2-Oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase 2 gene Arginine Array-ready oligonucleotide set Agricultural Research Service Arsenic Aspartic acid Gene encoding the alpha subunit of the F(1) ATPase Adenosine triphosphatase B gene ATPase a gene Allen Wilson Center Bacterial artificial chromosome Benzyl amino purine Na-benzoyl-DL-arginine-p-nitroaniline Backcross Brassica C-Genome Diversity Fixed Foundation Set Resources A cross-platform Bayesian Markov chain Monte-Carlo sequence analysis program Botanic Gardens Conservation International Banco de Germoplasma Vegetal Basic local alignment search tool Brassica oleracea Crop Genepool Brassica oleracea SINE European Brassica Database Lauric acid Myristic acid xvii

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Abbreviations

CAD5 CaMV CAPS CCA1 CCP cDNA CGH CGRIS Chs CHS CISS CMS CNR Col-0 CP cpDNA CSIR C-value CWR Cys DAMD DBT DFS DNAML DOG DOR DRDO DSE EC ECPGR EMBL EMS EPSPS ESM1 ESP EST ETS EURISCO F1 F2 FA FAE FISH FLC FMF2 FRI

Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase 5 gene Cauliflower mosaic virus Cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence Circadian clock associated Comparative chromosome painting Complementary-DNA Comparative genomic hybridization Chinese Genetic Resources Information System Chalcone synthase Chalcone synthase gene Chromosomal in situ suppression Cytoplasmic male sterility National Research Council Columbia ecotype Chromosome painting Chloroplast-DNA Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (New Delhi, India) Constant value (1C ¼ Amount of DNA within a haploid nucleus) Crop wild relatives Cysteine Direct amplification of minisatellite DNA Department of Biotechnology (New Delhi, India) Diversity Foundation Set DNA maximum likelihood program Delay of germination Directorate of Oilseeds Research (Rajendranagar, India) Defence Research and Development Organization (New Delhi, India) Regeneration of direct organogenesis from explants European Community European Cooperative Program for Crop Genetic Resources Networks European Molecular Biology Laboratory Ethylmethane sulfonate 5-Enol acetone, acyl Shikimate-3-phosphate synthase Epithiospecifier modifier 1 gene Epithiospecifier protein gene Expressed sequence tag External transcribed sequence European Network of ex situ National Inventories First filial (generation) Second filial (generation) Fatty acid Fatty acid elongation Fluorescence in situ hybridization Flowering Locus C gene Embryonic flower 2 gene FRIGIDA gene

Abbreviations

xix

FSE GA3 gapC gdc GDC gdcP GFP GISH GLS GLS-AOP GLS-elong GLS-OH GLS-OX Glu Gly GM GMO GMU GRIN GSL-ALK HDL HEA HEADE His IBPGR Ile IO IPGRI IPK ISE ISSR ITC ITS IUCN KAS LDL Ler Leu LFY LG Lys MAM1 MAS MatK matK MCT Met

Farm scale evaluation Gibberellic acid Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene Glycine decarboxylase gene Glycine decarboxylase Glycine decarboxylase P gene Green fluorescent protein gene Genomic in situ hybridization Glucosinolate compound Glucosinolate 2-oxoglutarate-dependant dioxygenase gene Glucosinolate methylthioalkylmalate synthase gene Glucosinolate 2-oxoacid-dependant dioxgenase gene Glucosinolate flavin-monooxygenase gene Glutamic acid Glycine Genetic modification/ genetically modified Genetically modified organism Germplasm management unit Genetic Resources Information Network QTL for production of alkenyl glucosinolate High-density lipoprotein High erucic acid High Erucic Acid Development Effort Histidine International Board for Plant Genetic Resources Isoleucine Regeneration of explants through organogenesis from callus International Plant Genetic Resources Institute Institut fur Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung Regeneration of explants through somatic embryogenesis from callus Inter-simple sequence repeat Isothiocyanate Internal transcribed spacer International Union for Conservation of Nature Ketoacyl-ACPsynthase Low-density lipoprotein Landsberg erecta ecotype Leucine Leafy gene Linkage group Lysine Methylthioalkylmalate synthase 1 gene Marker-assisted selection Maturase K Megakaryocyte-associated tyrosine kinase gene Medium chain fatty acid Methionine

xx

Abbreviations

Mg MISA MLO Mn MPSS MS MS Mt MTI MtN21 MUFA MYA N NAA NAD(P)H nad4 NADH NBPGR NCBI ndhF NeighborNet NGRP NIL NMS NPGS Nr Nt OIB Orf PAUP PCR PEG PEP PGI Phe PHYLIP PhyML PI PMC PPT PRK Pro PVC PVX PVY QE II QTL R&D

Magnesium MIcroSAtelitte Mycoplasma-like Organism Manganese Massively parallel signature sequence Malate synthase gene Murashige and Skoog medium Mountain Mustard trypsin inhibitor Medicago truncatula-like nodulin 21 gene Mono-unsaturated fatty acid Million years ago Content of non-essential amino acid Naphthaleneacetic acid Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate) dehydrogenase NADH4 gene Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources National Centre for Biotechnology Information NAD(P)H F gene A planar phylogenetic network construction program National Genetic Resources Program Near-isogeneic lines Nuclear male sterility National Plant Germplasm System Nuclear ribosomal Nucleotide Outer involucral bract Open reading frame Phylogenetic analysis using parsimony program Polymerase chain reaction Polyethylene glycol Phosphoenolpyruvate Phosphoglucose isomerase Phenylalanine Phylogeny inference package Phylogenies by maximum likelihood program Pistillata gene Pollen mother cell Phosphinothricin Phosphopyruvate kinase gene Proline Polyvinyl chloride Potato virus X Potato virus Y Queen Elizabeth II Quantitative trait loci Research and Development

Abbreviations

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RAPD rbcL RCA RCP rDNA RFLP RIL rRNA S SAAPLpNA SACPD SAGE SAMDC Sar SC SCAR SCRI Ser S-GT SHP 1 SHP 2 SINE SLR SNP SRAP SSR SSRIT STS T-DNA TFL 1 Thr TIGR TOC1 trnL-trnF Trp TuMV Tyr UPM USDA UV Val VAM VLCFA WinClada WRPIS

Random amplified polymorphic DNA Rubisco (Ribulose bisphosphate carboxlyase/oxygenase) large subunit gene Ricinus communis agglutinin Reverse chromosome painting Ribosomal DNA Restriction fragment length polymorphism Recombined inbreed line Ribosomal RNA Selfing generation Succynil-ala-ala-pro-leu-p-nitroanilide Stearoyl acyl carrier protein desaturase Serial analysis of gene expression S-Adenosylmethionine decarboxylase activity Genome of Sinapis arvensis Self-compatible Sequence-characterized amplified region Scottish Crop Research Institute Serine S-Glucosyltransferase Shatteringprof 1 Shatteringprof 2 Short interspersed nuclear elements S-Locus related Single nucleotide polymorphism Sequence-related amplified polymorphism Simple sequence repeat SSR identification tool Sequence tagged site Transfer-DNA Terminal flower Threonine The Institute Genome Rresearch True ossilator component Intergenic space between introns tRNALeucine (UAA) and tRNAPhenylalanine (GAA) Tryptophane Turnip mosaic virus Tyrosine Universidad Politecnica de Madrid United States Department of Agriculture Ultraviolet Valine Vesicular–arbuscular mycorrhizae Very long chained fatty acid A data management analysis and tree editing program Western Regional Plant Introduction Station

.

List of Contributors

Sheikh M. Basha Plant Biotechnology Laboratory, Florida A&M University, 6505 Mahan Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32317, USA, [email protected] Anjanabha Bhattacharya National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, The University of Georgia, P.O. Box 748, Tifton, GA 31793, USA, [email protected] Ferdinando Branca Dipartimento di OrtoFloroArboricoltura e Tecnologie Agroalimentari (DOFATA), Universita` di Catania, Via Valdisavoia 5, 95123 Catania, Italy, [email protected] Elena Cartea Misioń Biolo´gica de Galicia – CSIC, P.O. Box 28, E-36080 Pontevedra, Spain, [email protected] Christopher A. Cullis Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106-7080, USA, [email protected] Ce´sar Go´mez-Campo Escuela T. S. de Ingenieros Agrońomos, Universidad Politećnica de Madrid, E-28040 Madrid, Spain, [email protected] Peter B. Heenan Allen Herbarium, Landcare Research, P.O. Box 40, Lincoln 7640, New Zealand, [email protected] Pietro P.M. Iannetta Environment Plant Interactions, Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, Scotland, UK, [email protected] Simon Joly Institut de recherche en biologie ve´ge´tale, Montreal Botanical Garden, 4101 Sherbrooke East, Montreal, QC, Canada H1X 2B2, simon.joly@ville. montreal.gc.ca Ramesh Katam Plant Biotechnology Laboratory, Florida A&M University, 6505 Mahan Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32317, USA, [email protected] Chittaranjan Kole Director of Research, Institute of Nutraceutical Research, Clemson University, 109 Jordan Hall, Clemson, SC 29634, USA, CKOLE@ clemson.edu Juan B. Martıńez-Laborde Departamento de Biologıá Vegetal, Escuela T. S. de Ingenieros Agrońomos, Universidad Politećnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain, [email protected] Brad Morris USDA-ARS, PGRCU, 1109 Experiment Street, Griffin, GA 30223, USA, [email protected] xxiii

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Padma Nimmakayala Institute, Department of Biology, West Virginia State University, 103 Hamblin Hall, P.O. Box 1000, Dunbar, WV 25112-1000, USA, [email protected] Jan Olejniczak Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Plant Genetics, Poznan´, Strzeszynska 34 60-479, Poland, [email protected] Dilip R. Panthee Department of Horticultural Science, Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center, North Carolina State University, Mills River, NC 28759, USA, [email protected] Domenico Pignone CNR-IGV Institute of Plant Genetics, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy, [email protected] Soom Nath Raina Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Sector125, Noida, UP 210303, India, [email protected] Umesh Reddy Institute, Department of Biology, West Virginia State University, 103 Hamblin Hall, P.O. Box 1000, Dunbar, WV 25112-1000, USA, ureddy@ wvstateu.edu Eicke Rudloff Julius Kuehn Institute, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Breeding Research on Agricultural Crops, Erwin-Baur-Str. 27, 06484 Quedlinburg, Germany, [email protected] Deepmala Sehgal Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University, Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY 23 3EB, UK, [email protected] Johannes Siemens Free University of Berlin, Institute of Biology – Applied Genetics, Albrecht-Thaer Weg 6, 14195 Berlin, Germany, [email protected] Muhammad Tahir Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba, 222 Agriculture Bldg, 55 Dafoe Rd, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3T 2N2, tahir@cc. umanitoba.ca Fe´licity Vear INRA-UMR ASP, Domaine de Crouelle, 234, Ave du Brezet, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France, [email protected] Claudia Voelckel Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand, [email protected] Ming Li Wang USDA-ARS, PGRCU, 1109 Experiment Street, Griffin, GA 30223, USA, [email protected] Shenghua Wang Key Laboratory of Bio-resources and Eco-environment, Ministry of Education, College of Life Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, P.R. China, [email protected] Youping Wang College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Yangzhou University, 225009 Yangzhou, P.R. China, [email protected]



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Roger Watts Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba, 222 Agriculture Bldg, 55 Dafoe Rd, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3T 2N2, umwatts4@cc. umanitoba.ca Hendrik Winter Department of Biology, Molecular Biotechnology, Technische Universit€at Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany, [email protected] Jun Wu Key Laboratory of Bio-resources and Eco-environment, Ministry of Education, College of Life Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, P.R. China, [email protected] Krithika Yogeeswaran School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand, krithika.yogeeswaran@ canterbury.ac.nz Li Rong Zhou College of Architechture and Environment, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, P.R. China, [email protected]

.

Chapter 1

Arabidopsis Ramesh Katam, Dilip R. Panthee, Anjanabha Bhattacharya, Sheikh M. Basha, and Chittaranjan Kole

1.1 Introduction Arabidopsis belongs to the family Brassicaceae, which consists of several vegetable and oilseed crops including Brassica oleracea, Brassica napus, Brassica nigra, Brassica rapa (syn. campestris), and B. juncea among others. Arabidopsis genus consists of several species, among which Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) is used extensively for research in plant biology, although it has no potential economic value as a food or fuel crop. Although it cannot be used as oilseed crop, it has been used extensively for the genetic and genomic analysis of Brassicaceae crops (Panjabi et al. 2008). Since Brassica species genomes are many times greater than Arabidopsis, it is much convenient to work in Arabidopsis to use the information in the Brassica species for crop improvement efforts. Arabidopsis was used extensively as a model plant species in the 1950s for mutagenesis studies (Redei 1992). A. thaliana is a diploid species with n ¼ x ¼ 5 chromosomes, and a total genome size of approximately 125 Mb, one of the smallest known genomes among higher plants. Its small genome size is another feature that has led to its popularity as a model species. The genome sequence of A. thaliana var. Columbia was completed in 2000, and now most of the genes have been annotated (The Arabidopsis Genome initiative 2000). Besides small genome size, it has less repetitive DNA, only 28,523 genes (of which 26,772 have been sequenced and the remaining thought to be Ramesh Katam (*) Plant Biotechnology Lab, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL 32308, USA e-mail: [email protected] This chapter was equally contributed by Panthee and Bhattacharya.

pseudogenes) and about 50,000 proteins (Katam et al. 2010). Furthermore, microarrays were developed and are currently available for global gene profiling experiments, and data mining such as from A. thaliana GenExpress transcriptome database is possible. Comparison of diversion of genes between Arabidopsis and Brassica species may uncover the evolution of unique and species-specific genes that will unravel the evolution of each species in the Brassicaceace family under the presence of selective pressure (Hall et al. 2002). Among other members of Brassicaceae, Cardamine amara has been estimated to have the smallest genome size of only 50 Mb (Bennett and Smith 1991). The variation in genome size among plant species, which can extend up to 120,000 Mb, have been resulted from duplication, reassembly, or by partial elimination of genes in the presence of selective pressure during plant evolution. Evolutionary trends suggest that the extant species resulted from many rounds of gene duplication, deletion, homologous recombination, unequal crossing, rearrangement, and polyploidization from their putative progenitors (Vision et al. 2000). Currently, 40% of Brassicaceae species are reported to be polyploids (Masterson 1994).

1.2 Species of Arabidopsis Advances in molecular methods have enhanced our ability to better understand the function and evolution of genes that regulate during high temperature, drought, pathogens, insects, and other environmental challenges. Although no single model system can address the diverse range of ecological and evolutionary questions of interest, A. thaliana and its wild relatives

C. Kole (ed.), Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources, Oilseeds, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-14871-2_1, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011

1

2 Fig. 1.1 Evolution of important oilseed crop plants in Brassicaceace family (modified from Snowdon 2007)

R. Katam et al. Brassica rapa (2n = 20, AA)

Brassica nigra (2n = 16, BB) X

Brassica oleraceae (2n = 36, AABB)

provide a model system that has a vast array of molecular tools, genetic resources, and biological information that can be used to address fundamental questions in ecology and evolution. Over the past 40 million years, approximately 3,000 crucifer species have radiated to many habitats worldwide (Koch et al. 2001). Recent molecular and morphological studies have outlined systematic relationships across Brassicaceae (Fig. 1.1) and across the closest relatives of Arabidopsis (Galloway et al. 1998). The putative progenitors of Arabidopsis were likely polyploid, and this species may have evolved through extensive loss of genes (Blanc et al. 2000). There are nine closely related species in the genus Arabidopsis (Table 1.1). The closest relatives are A. lyrata and A. halleri (2n ¼ 8), which are not crosscompatible with A. thaliana. However, A. thaliana (diploid) is cross-compatible with A. arenosa (tetraploid), resulting in a third bridge species, A. suecica, which is allotetraploid. The crosses involving these two species result in a few fertile seeds in F1 generation. In F7 generation, the progeny are quite stable, contemplating the involvement of micro-RNAs in such a phenomenon. There have been reports of successful crossing between A. lyrata A. hallari, A. lyrata A. arenosa, and A. lyrata A. arenosa (Koch and Matschinger 2007), showing gene flow. Gene silencing in the bridge species involving various species of Arabidopsis at certain loci has led to speculation that these species evolved under the pressure of reproductive isolation. The genera Arabidopsis, Brassica, Arabis, and Cardaminopsis seem to have diverged from a common ancestor 40–50 million years ago (Mya), though Arabis and Cardaminopsis are often classified as Arabidopsis (Pigliucci and Schmitt 2004). There are 21 syntenic regions shared by B. napus and A. thaliana genome that show up to 90% homology that seem conserved for the last 20 million years

Table 1.1 Arabidopsis 2008) Species Arabidopsis thaliana A. suecica A. pedemontana A. cebennensis A. kamchatica A. lyrata A. hallari A. arenosa

Brassica oleraceae (2n = 18, CC)

X

Brassica carcinata (2n = 34, BBCC)

and their wild relatives (Koch .et al. Haploid chromosome 5 14 9 9 16 4 4 4

Ploidy (x) Diploid Tetraploid Diploid Triploid Tetraploid Diploid Diploid Diploid

(Parkin et al. 2005). Macrosynteny found between B. oleracea and A. thaliana also confirms large amount of chromosomal rearrangement to occur during the evolutionary process (Snowdon 2007). The knowledge of synteny is vital for quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping in the other crop species, once QTL in Brassica is compared with the position in Arabidopsis chromosome. Nucleotide variation in eight effectively unlinked genes was surveyed in specieswide samples of the closely related outbreeding species Arabidopsis halleri and A. lyrata ssp. petraea and in three of these genes in A. lyrata ssp. lyrata and A. thaliana (Ramos-Onsins et al. 2004). Significant genetic differentiation was observed more frequently in A. lyrata ssp. petraea than in A. halleri. Average estimates of nucleotide variation were highest in A. lyrata ssp. petraea and lowest in A. lyrata ssp. lyrata, reflecting differences among species in effective population size. Average among-population variation in A. halleri and A. lyrata ssp. petraea was, respectively, 1.5- and threefold higher than that in the inbreeder A. thaliana. The detected reduction of variation in A. thaliana was less than that expected from differences in mating system alone, and therefore from selective processes related to differences in the effective recombination rate, but could be explained by differences in population structure.

1 Arabidopsis

1.2.1 Origin of New Species Through Polyploidy Although comparative genomics can detect more ancient events than classical cytology, all events may not be detected. It has long been recognized that polyploidy has played an important role in speciation, especially in plants (Stebbins 1971). The new species will, therefore, evolve independently of its parental species, and if the polyploidization occurs only once, there will be no additional gene-flow into the species once it is formed. Even if it occurs several times, different polyploid lineages may well be isolated because of the rapid chromosome rearrangements (Pontes et al. 2004) and changes in gene expression (Osborn et al. 2003) that may accompany polyploidization. If polyploid species become diploidized over time, all plant species will have polyploid ancestors (Ku et al. 2000). A. suecica (Fr.) was first described as an allotetraploid (2n ¼ 26), which has A. thaliana and Arabidopsis (Cardaminopsis) arenosa as its parental species, a suggestion supported by molecular phylogenetics (O’Kane and Al-shehbaz 1997). It is diploid (2n ¼ 10), although tetraploid A. thaliana individuals are occasionally found. A. arenosa is a European species, which is tetraploid (2n ¼ 4x ¼ 32) in most of its range and reportedly diploid (2n ¼ 2x ¼ 16) in a small area in eastern Europe (Mesicek 1970). cpDNA sequencing confirmed that A. thaliana is the maternal parent of A. suecica (S€all et al. 2003). Furthermore, when producing artificial A. suecica through crosses, viable offsprings were produced from A. thaliana maternal parent (Comai et al. 2000). An important aspect of the formation of a polyploid species is the number of independent origins. Many allopolyploid species are believed to have multiple origins (Soltis and Soltis 1993). If all the polyploids form a single branch within the tree, there is evidence of a single origin, whereas if the allopolyploids appear at different positions relative to the parent, there is evidence of multiple origins. This method was used to analyze cpDNA from A. suecica, and the results indicated a single origin. Speciation by polyploidization is instantaneous, which is the result of a well defined, discrete event (s). The new polyploid species is expected to be isolated from its parental species because crosses between a polyploid and its parental species are most

3

likely infertile. However, repeated polyploidization events may result in a polyploid species with multiple origins. More than one polyploidization event of genetically very closely related parental individuals results in polyploidy species. The observation of monophyly at one or a small number of loci with respect to the parental species does not imply a single origin. Alleles in the polyploid species could be monophyletic with respect to the parental species since they coalesce more recently than the origins of the species (Rosenberg and Nordborg 2002).

1.2.2 Genome Differentiation in Closely Related Species The phenomenon of heterosis or hybrid vigor is poorly understood despite its perceived importance in evolution and its practical significance in breeding programs that aim to increase yield of crop plants. The identification of positively selected chromosomal segments that increase the fitness of backcross progeny (Rieseberg et al. 1999) would provide a basis for the study of heterosis. Several models have been proposed to explain the genetic basis of heterosis, including the masking of deleterious alleles, complementation of allelic variants, and epistasis (Rieseberg et al. 2000). The interspecific hybrid system has a potential to facilitate progress to analyze biological processes that do not exist such as self-incompatibility and perennial growth habit and cannot be studied in A. thaliana. The interspecific hybrid system facilitates evaluation of the genetic basis of heterosis and understanding of genome evolution, specifically as a complement to the commonly used strategy of comparative mapping of the differentiated genomes of related species. However, the few molecular marker studies that have addressed this issue led to conflicting conclusions regarding the primary cause of heterosis possibly because a combination of causes might produce heterotic effects (Monforte and Tanksley 2000). Backcross populations of A. thaliana–A. lyrata hybrids may be used to investigate the extent of chromosome differentiation between A. thaliana and A. lyrata and the degree to which it might interfere with chromosome pairing and gene flow between the two species. It is critical to determine whether the backcross plants incur differential inheritance of different

4

chromosome blocks. These studies lead to the identification of loci that contribute to genetic isolation between the two species, because such loci are expected to be introgressed at a slower rate than neutral loci. The parental imprinting most likely is the dominant mechanism for the postzygotic hybridization barrier between A. thaliana and A. arenosa (Bushell et al. 2003). The ability to introduce a hybridization barrier may prove useful in the containment of genetically modified crops. Genomic strength could be modified to ensure that they would be unable to produce viable seeds by hybridization with wild relatives.

1.2.3 Arabidopsis Hybrids In A. thaliana, considerable intraspecific genetic variation occurs among different geographical isolates, and this variation, which is largely quantitative in nature, is being studied by using methods developed for the analysis of QTL in crop plants (Alonso-Blanco and Koornneef 2000). Generation and analysis of interspecific hybrids between A. thaliana and related species provide an additional and unique resource for the functional analysis of the Arabidopsis genome. Wide crosses and interspecific hybridizations have been used to investigate the genetic basis of complex traits that differentiate varieties within a species and related species in several plant families (Bernacchi and Tanksley 1997). The feasibility of generating interspecific hybrids of Arabidopsis and closely related species is suggested by the occurrence of A. suecica, an allotetraploid thought to be derived from A. thaliana and C. arenosa (O’kane et al. 1996) by crossing autotetraploid A. thaliana (generated by colchicine treatment) and tetraploid C. arenosa. Interspecific hybridizations were performed in an attempt to clarify the taxonomic relationships of A. thaliana to related species (Redei 1974). Hybridizations of A. thaliana with complex traits are amenable to analysis in A. thaliana–A. lyrata hybrids. Species within the immediate taxonomic vicinity of Arabidopsis show a range of interesting traits such as apomixis in Arabis holboellii (Roy 1995). Therefore, it is conceivable that the range of traits that may be investigated by an interspecific hybridization approach will be further expanded in the future, should it prove possible to hybridize A. thaliana with these other related species.

R. Katam et al.

By increasing the genetic variability available for study, the A. thaliana–A. lyrata hybrid populations should be useful in the analysis of a number of different plant processes.

1.3 Evolutionary Genomics Progressive loss of individual genes from duplicated segments has been a fundamental feature of genome evolution. Plant genomes are shaped by a dynamic balance between rates of gene duplication and gene loss. Several studies have examined gene families and segmental duplications in the Arabidopsis genome. Extensive duplicated regions suggest that a polyploidization event occurred ~100 Mya. The half-life of duplicated genes in Arabidopsis is estimated at approximately 3.2 million years (Lynch and Conery 2000). During population differentiation, loss of gene function at alternative, duplicated loci provides a plausible speciation mechanism consistent with existing models. Several large genomic regions have been sequenced from relatives of Arabidopsis (Quiros et al. 2001). In comparison to Arabidopsis, functional genes are highly conserved, whereas intergenic regions display insertions, deletions, and higher levels of nucleotide substitution. Such sequence comparisons will be useful for genetic analysis of crop plants, and for annotation and regulatory studies of Arabidopsis genes. Furthermore, evolutionary analysis of comparative sequence data can provide insights into the evolution of gene families, the molecular basis of adaptation, and the rate of deleterious mutations. Genetic and phylogenetic relatedness, which enables crosses between x ¼ 5 and x ¼ 8 taxa, provides a huge potential to move from the study of A. thaliana into its wild relatives to answer fundamental evolutionary questions, which may not be possible in A. thaliana because of inbreeding system and unspectacular distribution range. Evolutionary studies are restricted to single species or groups of populations. The evolutionary split between A. thaliana (x ¼ 5) and Arabidopsis taxa (x ¼ 8) occurred 5 Mya (Kuittinen and Aguade´ 2000) and initiated the evolution of A. thaliana with its unique characters compared with the x ¼ 8 lineage and also changes on the chromosome level resulting in its derived genome structure (Yogeeswaran et al. 2005). On the contrary, there is

1 Arabidopsis

much more variation in the x ¼ 8 lineage, resulting in the recognition of several species and subspecies. Three major lineages can be recognized, namely A. lyrata, A. halleri, and A. arenosa, and most species or subspecies can be treated within these three lineages. In addition, three species have been described that are not closely related to one of these three species groups: A. croatica (Croatia), A. cebennensis (France), and A. pedemontana (Italy). It can be expected that below the species level, the number of taxa will increase further as is the case for A. halleri, which segregates with five subspecies. The same will happen to A. arenosa segregates because actual taxonomic treatments are unconvincingly based on comparative cytological, morphological, or genetic analysis, and we are still lacking any comparative morphometric analysis.

1.4 Diversity in A. thaliana and Genetic Variation Among Wild Species of Arabidopsis Plants are ideal for molecular ecological genetics because they are sessile and are confronted by measurable environmental challenges, such as abiotic (extreme temperatures, drought, salinity, etc.) and biotic (pathogens and insects, etc.) stresses. Many known genes function in response to these environmental challenges, so these loci could be influenced by natural selection. Analysis of DNA sequence variation within and between species can compare observed patterns of variation with predictions of neutral equilibrium models. Genetic variation was observed in recent population expansion in A. thaliana (Innan and Stephan 2000). A comprehensive study of nucleotide polymorphism at 400 loci found genome-wide evidence for population expansion, which corresponds to the large population size of A. thaliana. Such studies can determine whether QTL alleles are young, deleterious, and spatially restricted or whether they are old widespread polymorphisms contributing to local adaptation. A great extent of natural variation has been found at phenotypic and molecular levels in A. thaliana. Studies at molecular levels have revealed the high level of interplay and complexity of genes determining the plant phenotype. Breeding system influences experimental

5

tractability in A. thaliana and its relatives. High levels of self-pollination in A. thaliana and A. drummondii facilitate QTL mapping and progeny testing in advanced generation crosses, which can be hindered by inbreeding depression in outcrossing species (Karkkainen et al. 1999). However, many population genetic models assume random mating, which is approximated more closely in populations of outcrossing species such as A. lyrata and A. halleri. Outcrossing species are predicted to maintain higher levels of genetic variation within populations (Charlesworth and Charlesworth 1995a). This pattern has been observed among Leavenworthia species at PGI locus (Liu et al. 1999) but is less clear when the Adh gene is compared between A. lyrata and A. thaliana (Savolainen et al. 2000). Breeding system also influences transposon abundance and mobility (Charlesworth and Charlesworth 1995b) that can affect genetic variation for quantitative traits.

1.5 Comprehensive Phylogenetic Framework for Arabidopsis Genetic variation of all evolutionary lineages of A. thaliana relatives was studied (Koch and Matschinger 2007) based on a representative geographic sampling by studying maternally inherited chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) haplotype variation and sequence diversity of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) of ribosomal RNA. The plastid data were compared with the nuclear data, and significant differences among the various evolutionary lineages are highlighted contributing to the systematic status of some taxonomical nomenclatural combinations such as A. kamchatica and A. arenicola (Shimizu et al. 2005). Using comparative DNA sequence analysis of a plastid and a nuclear locus across the whole genus Arabidopsis, a phylogenetic framework for all known closest relatives of A. thaliana was introduced.

1.6 Genetic Analysis of Brassica Crops Using Arabidopsis Genomics Brassica lineage nigra (n ¼ 8) and rapa (n ¼ 10) are closely related to Arabidopsis, which diverged about 8 Mya (Lysak et al. 2005) and are diploids, although

6

they are probably paleopolyploids having several progenitor species and share similar evolutionary history to A. thaliana (Qiu et al. 2009). The evolution of Brassica seems to be through extreme gene duplication and extensive rearrangement (Lagercrantz 2008). Polyploidy is responsible for evolution of diversity among plant species and observed frequently in Brassica members. Comparative genomic studies with the genome regions of B. rapa, B. napus, B. oleracea to A. thaliana proved consistency with the hypothesis of triplicated nature of Brassica (2n) genome (Park et al. 2005). Source for Brassica genome data primarily comes from genomic sequencing, bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC), and expressed sequential tag (EST) sequences. These ESTs were utilized to develop over 900 molecular markers and were mapped to 15 genetic maps (Lim et al. 2007). These markers are being used for marker-assisted selection (MAS), fine-mapping, QTL mapping, and map-based or synteny-based positional cloning for agronomic traits in Brassica. The evolutionary synteny among Brassicaceae family was investigated by performing chromosome painting with a 9 Mb BAC from A. thaliana chromosome 4 that found homologous regions in 21 members in Brassica and convincing pattern that may be due to evolution of a species from its progenitors, which had similar genome size as that of Arabidopsis (Lysak et al. 2005). Although several segments of the genomes were found to be conserved across Brassica and Arabidopsis, there is distinct evidence of gene loss, which could have simply resulted from gene rearrangements from other parts of the genome, or through fragmentation and dispersal phenomena (Town et al. 2006). Comparative approach for mining similarity between B. napus (B. olaracea B. rapa) has evidenced for several loci, which mapped to similar position in the A. thaliana genome. Since the Arabidopsis genome has been annotated, investigation of functional and comparative genomics is possible to find similar genes or orthologs in different species. Many genes controlling physiological processes in plants are highly conserved across plant species throughout the period of evolution and show various degrees of synteny. Koch et al. (2000) analyzed sequence variation for chalcone synthase (Chs) and alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) loci in 28 species in the genera Arabidopsis and Arabis and related taxa from the tribe Arabideae. Chs was single-copy in nearly all taxa examined, while Adh

R. Katam et al.

duplications were found in several species. Phylogenies constructed from both loci confirmed that the closest relatives of A. thaliana include A. lyrata, A. petraea, and A. haller. The genus Arabis is polyphyletic – some unrelated species appear within this taxonomic classification, which has little phylogenetic significance. A. thaliana diverged from its nearest relatives about 5 Mya and from Brassica roughly 24 Mya.

1.7 Introgression and Utilization of Arabidopsis for the Improvement of Brassica It is critical to know about wild relatives in order to understand the evolution and transgression of genes of importance in Arabidopsis from its wild type progenitors and their basis of selection and differentiation from each wild type species. This results in a lot of complication about the evolution of individual characters. Furthermore, molecular markers such as simple sequence repeat (SSR) and amplified length fragment polymorphism (ALFP) reveal a detailed characterization of individual species. There are a large numbers of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 249,052 reported by Clark et al. (2007) found from the Arabidopsis genome sequence projects, thus demonstrating that a large amount of variation in amino acids and proteins can be found in nature in response to different physiological conditions. Introgression studies are critical for crop improvement, particularly at a time when a large amount of resources has been spent on gene sequencing and understanding the global profiling of proteins in plants. Introgression into the important Brassica species from their relatives Arabidopsis species could facilitate our understanding of gene introgression into the related species. Extensive similarity exists between B. napus and A. thaliana advocating the use of Arabidopsis genomic resources for Brassica crop improvement (Cavell et al. 1998). These two species have diverged about 20 Mya, and though Brassica species have acquired many more genes distributed in the additional chromosomes, the synteny of genes overshadow the significance of the evolutionary process in these two species (Hall et al. 2002). So the study and evolution of Arabidopsis and its synteny

1 Arabidopsis

with members of the Brassicaceae members (canola, oilseed mustards, and some vegetable crops like broccoli and Brussels sprouts) will shed light on the origin and development of key genes regulating yield and quality parameters. Comparison of A. thaliana and B. nigra indicated that the Brassica genome has evolved through intensive genome replication and rearrangement of the genes. Many of the genes of importance to crop productivity traits must be present in Arabidopsis, and the availability of complete genome sequence indicates that data mining is possible in short time to identify the gene(s) of interest with agronomic significance.

1.8 Arabidopsis and Brassica Comparative Genomics Comparative genomics among economically important crop species and their closely related model plant species can be useful in the identification of genetic markers and candidate genes for positional gene cloning (Qiu et al. 2009). The genome changes, which took place in these two plant species over millions of years will be possible and then comparing with A. thaliana is significant in the perspective of evolution from the genome sequence projects of B. rapa and B. oleracea (Yang et al. 2006). Among the cultivated Brassica species, B. oleracea has been estimated to have the largest genome, which is due to frequent insertions of transposons and mostly intron duplication (Alix and Heslop-Harrison 2004). To understand the evolution of genes associated with agronomic traits in these species, the ultimate aim is to decipher the control mechanism behind temporal and spatial expression of proteins and their complex interactions, which forms the basis of multitude of physiological functions in plants. This could in turn answer many other physiological problems related to crop (Brassica family) yield and tolerance to insect pests and diseases (Altmann et al. 2004).

7

a 2 Mb region was predicted to be syntenic to O3 in the A12XGD-206 (Fig. 1.2). Furthermore, a 4 Mb conserved block, from the lower half of A. thaliana Ch1, was predicted to be syntenic to O4 from A12XGD206, A12XGD-210, whereas only 1 Mb of this region was syntenic with BolAG_1996_A O4. Conserved blocks between A. thaliana Ch2 and linkage groups O1, O5, O6, O8, and O9 of B. oleracea were not observed. However, a 9 Mb conserved block in the middle of A. thaliana Ch2 was predicted to be syntenic to BolAG_1996_A O7, and a smaller region of A12XGD-206 O7 was also syntenic with two smaller blocks. Similar to chromosome 2 of A. thaliana, no conserved blocks were identified between A. thaliana Ch3 and linkage groups O1, O2, O6, and O9 in their study. The 2 Mb conserved block at the top of A. thaliana Ch3 and 3 Mb inverted blocks at the lower half of the chromosome were predicted to be syntenic to A12XGD-206 and BolAG_1996_A. The predicted synteny between A. thaliana Ch4 and BolAG_1999_A was an inverted conserved block on O1, which was also present in A12XGD-210 O1. A 16 Mb conserved block at the lower half of A. thaliana Ch4 was also predicted to be syntenic to BolAG_1996_A O3. Only O4 from A12XGD-206 was predicted to be syntenic with A. thaliana Ch4. A 6 Mb conserved block in the middle of A. thaliana Ch4 was predicted to be syntenic to A12XGD-206 and BolAG_1999_A O7, whereas only 0.5 Mb syntenic block was detected on O7. The 6 Mb conserved block in the middle of A. thaliana Ch4 was predicted to be syntenic to O8 in all the populations except BolAG_1999_A, whereas 2 Mb conserved block in the middle of A. thaliana Ch4 was predicted to be syntenic to A12XGD-210 O9. While there were no other conserved blocks identified between A. thaliana Ch5 and linkage groups O4, O5, and O8 of B. oleracea, two conserved block at the top and bottom half of A12XGD-206 map O2 were predicted to be syntenic to A. thaliana Ch5. Furthermore, one 2 Mb block was found in the lower top of BolAG_1996_A O3, and a 0.5 Mb conserved block in O6 was predicted to have a syntenic region A. thaliana Ch5.

1.8.1 Comparison of B. oleracea with Arabidopsis

1.8.2 Comparison of B. napus with Arabidopsis Significant conservation was observed between the different B. oleracea and A. thaliana maps. Although conserved blocks were not found between A. thaliana Ch1 and linkage groups O1 and O2 of B. oleracea,

Comparative linkage study between B. napus and A. thaliana revealed that there were five conserved

8

R. Katam et al. A5 (J5/N5)

A4 (J4/N4) 0.0 2.6

54.6 57.2

At2g40765b At2g40690* At2g42040

62.8 63.6

p63t78v400 wg1h4a

75.7

At2g44520

5.4

N T S I e

J

7.1 8.0 8.8 11.6 13.1 14.1 16.7 18.3 23.7 26.9 31.0 33.8 37.9 40.7 41.6 43.4 44.5 45.0

At3g63420*b At3g54650 p62m59h197 At3g58500*a At3g55440*b At4g13940*b At5g37480 At5g37630 At5g37850 At2g21150 At5g41560 At2g22000a At5g36880* At2g22640 At2g24765*a At2g25737* p53m47h285 At2g28880*b e47m43h330 At1g69980 At2g31490a At2g07440*b At2g32520 e31m58v101 At2g35790 GE-R3 At2g36530*c At2g37040* At2g37150*

0.0 1.4

A6 (J6/N6)

At2g46390 wg6d7a

C 13.1

At2g44970 p48t94h420

23.6 28.1 28.8 31.0 34.0 35.3

e43m59h99 At2g30200 At2g30410 At2g29980*a At5g36230* e34m62v157 At1g31812a At1g36380 At1g36980 At1g02410b At3g21865 At1g51740b At1g35460* At1g55860*a At4g14570a e48m32h244 At3g16310 e62m35h190 At3g12120*a

J

f B/C

t

36.4 40.2 40.8 45.0 49.0 55.4 56.4

F

63.6

At2g23930*a

68.6 70.9 72.9

At3g09925 At3g09220* p32t77h310

86.4

e50t66v470

93.6

e35t63v240

H G

f

B 5.6

I

f

12.7 14.1 17.8 20.3 23.6

N

Q

L

V

u

41.7 43.5

At1g79950* At1g79040 e44m50h400

50.7 53.6 55.7

p62t78v211 At1g67170*a

61.9

p53m42h153

T

11.4 12.1 12.8

U

At3g56290

B

E

15.6 17.2 17.8 20.3 24.5 26.8 29.0 34.3 35.1 39.9 40.5 43.8

At1g68310*a

A

ec5a6

0.0 7.1 8.8 9.7

B/C

At3g24315 At1g23440* At1g21090 e39m32h153 At3g50230* At2g27730At2g27490 At2g28880*a p40m82h174 At3g53190*a wg2a11 At3g55005*c

At1g49340*a At1g51740a e39m55h215 At1g50575 At1g50030*

14.3

At1g48580 e58t75h177

24.2 27.4 30.5

At1g12840a At5g16680* At1g12230

35.4 37.1

At1g16900* At1g17680

42.9

At1g19850*

48.4 49.3 50.6

At5g22030* At5g23610* At5g24090 At5g27740*a

62.4

At3g27340 e34m50h330 At3g27100 At3g26370*

67.4 69.7 71.0 74.9

At2g03870 R81At2g02760* At2g01850* At2g01350

81.4 84.0

At5g47040* At5g45610 e31m60v400

90.9

e47t70h124v

60.0

A8 (J8/N8)

At2g15430b* At2g19560 At2g18410 At2g18040 At2g16860 At2g19450b At2g06510* At2g18900* At2g04235At3g24800

31.6 34.8 35.5

73.5

B

K

A7 (J7/N7) 0.0 1.2 1.7 2.3 3.5

A

0.0 4.3 8.0 8.9

At C1 At C2 At C3 At C4 At C5

44.8 48.7 49.4 56.6 59.1 60.6 67.8 69.8

At4g31720a At1g29580* p65t90v258 At1g50240 At1g35680* At4g33380 At1g31812b At1g31910 At4g16510 At4g15802 At4g14570b At4g17900*b At4g15510 At4g16400a At4g15910b At4g04930 At4g34520*a e32t66h142 At4g31460 At4g26840*a At4g28200 At4g25140*a e48m34h182 At1g28560b At4g38570* At1g28530b At1g24310 p62m39v124 At1g25540* At1g14610* At1g26850* At1g23180a At1g19630* At1g18340a At1g18060 At1g11880b e39t74h760 At1g11240 At1g03180b p48t87v295

Fig. 1.2 Comparison of the B. oleracea maps GD206 (A12XGD-206), GD210 (A12XGD-210), Bol1996 (BolAG_1996_A), Bol1999 (BolAG_1999_A) to Arabidopsis chromosomes 1–5. Source: Lim et al. 2007

1 Arabidopsis

9

blocks between A. thaliana Ch1 and linkage groups N18, N13, N19, N15, and N16 (Fig. 1.3). The largest of these linkage groups, N15, spanned nearly the whole of A. thaliana Ch1, whereas the N18 region was found to be inverted. An earlier research identified syntenic regions between A. thaliana Ch1 and most linkage groups of B. napus (Udall et al. 2005). Several

conserved regions between A. thaliana Ch2 and B. napus genome have been reported for N3, N5, N13, N14, and N18 with blocks larger than 3 Mb detected in N19, N4, and N12. Several conserved regions were found on A. thaliana Ch3 in another study in N2, N4, N5, N10, N12, N13, N14, N15, N18, and N19. Inverted blocks in N11 and N15 were

A9 (J9/N9)

O Q

X

H

d

0.0 8.4 10.8 11.4 17.2 21.3 23.9 29.4 30.1 37.8 42.7 44.4 45.5 47.9 48.7 51.2 53.3 54.6 57.6 59.5 61.7 66.5 67.9 73.7

D

76.7 77.8 78.4

V B P

p m 79.0

b

N

I

Fig. 1.3 Comparison of the B. napus maps to Arabidopsis chromosomes 1–5. Source: Lim et al. 2007

79.6 81.2 82.1 83.2 87.0 90.2 91.1 95.8 99.2 101.5 103.5 106.7 107.4 113.1

H

113.9

A

118.4 121.1 122.8 126.8 131.1 134.1 139.5 141.7 142.3 144.2 150.1 150.8

i

GSl-odd GA-R2 At4g02580 At4g03150a At5g27560 At2g07440*a At5g24490a e34m43h360 e31m60h440 At5g63905 At5g67590 e58m44v202 At2g14170*a At2g14170*b At2g14250* At2g16660* At2g17420* p33t83v197 At1g29990b At2g19260 At2g19450a At1g63980 At2G20320*b e50t66v251 At3g46560 At1g62640 At5g43430 At5g42800* At5g42320 At2g03060* At4g10100 At4g12590 At4g10090 At4g06676 At1g31812c At3g44735b At1g33980 At1g33265 At1g29990a At1g28100 e48m39v773 At4g09060* At1g27385 At4g09760* At1g34350 At1g22860 At4g05530* At4g11790b At3g51260*a p58m71v952 At3g55430*a At3g54670* At3g59490 e34m62v390h At3g58500*b At3g62620 At2g26350 e34m43v310 At3g43520* At2g25740*b p53m47h350 At2g20760*b At2g20490b e46m59v304 At1g11880a At2g22370 At1g07210 e48t78h132 At1g07980 At1g05205 At1g03687 p48t94h261 At1g01290

A10 (J10/N10) A

W

R

0.0 0.7

e34m43h119 At1g02870

5.9

At1g04950*

10.8 14.2

e50m32h84 At5g59140b

19.9 21.5

At5g20250* p53m70v126

35.2 36.9 40.0 44.3 46.2

At5g15400a At5g14920* e34t74v699 At5g13190b At5g11960 p58m35v180

52.6 55.9 59.5 62.0 65.9

At5g09310c At5g08280c p48m67v150 At5g06240a At5g05920a ec5a7

71.3 72.5

At5g01160 p62m66v931


10

identified on the basis of another map (Parkin et al. 2005). Further conserved blocks for N11, N17, and N19 were found in the middle of A. thaliana Ch5. A 6 Mb inverted block was found for N6 in the middle of A. thaliana Ch5, and blocks larger than 4 Mb were found for N12, N13, N15, with a smaller block for N19 at the top of the chromosome. Furthermore, small blocks were found for N2, N6, N12, and N16 at the top of A. thaliana Ch5 (Mayerhofer et al. 2005).

1.8.3 Comparison of B. rapa with Arabidopsis Under the ongoing effort of international genome sequencing and comparative mapping of B. rapa with respect to A. thaliana, Yang et al. (2005) sequenced Ch1 of B. rapa. Comparative sequence analysis revealed 82% similarity between A. thaliana and B. rapa. Homologous syntenic blocks over 200 with 72% of the sequenced and anchored B. rapa sequences were assigned to synteny blocks in A. thaliana (Mun et al. 2009), when multiple blocks overlapping the same region were considered (Fig. 1.4). According to them, the B. rapa and A. thaliana genomes share a minimum of 20 large-scale synteny blocks with substantial microsynteny blocks, which extend the length of whole chromosome arms. However, A. thaliana 1L (long arm) and A. thaliana 3 have only one or two synteny blocks in the B. rapa genome. Moreover, some genome regions of A. thaliana, including a smaller section of A. thaliana 2S and A. thaliana 4S, did not show significant synteny with B. rapa counterparts, indicating chromosomelevel deletion of triplicated segments. Interestingly, B. rapa was found to show synteny with a major single chromosome along almost the entire length or fragments of multiple A. thaliana chromosomes in a complicated mosaic pattern, indicating frequent recombination of the B. rapa chromosomes.

1.8.4 Comparison of B. juncea with Arabidopsis B. juncea genome has been mapped comparatively with A. thaliana to obtain a comparative picture of the

R. Katam et al.

genetic mapping. Molecular markers and relative position of molecular markers in the genome and usefulness of the same markers in both the species was investigated (Panjabi et al. 2008). Primers for PCR amplification were designed from exon sequences, which showed strong nucleotide conservation between A. thaliana and the corresponding EST sequences described for Brassica species. Out of 1,180 primer pairs, 383 (32%) showed polymorphism between the B. juncea lines. Genotyping using the 383 polymorphic primer pairs generated 486 loci in B. juncea of which 67% were scored as codominant markers and the remaining 33% were scored as dominant markers. A linkage map of B. juncea consisting of 533 A. thaliana loci is shown in Fig. 1.5. An uneven distribution of A. thaliana loci originating from each Arabidopsis chromosome was observed in the genome of B. juncea. Among the 10 LGs of the A-genome (A1–A10), for example, all the linkage groups except A2, A6, A7, A8, and A10 contained A. thaliana loci from each of the five A. thaliana chromosomes. Furthermore, the linkage group A8 was composed of markers from A. thaliana Ch1 and A. thaliana Ch4, while A10 was composed of markers from A. thaliana Ch1 and A. thaliana Ch5. The organization of the B. juncea linkage map with respect to the A. thaliana genome was also studied on the basis of the distribution of 24 genomic blocks described for a hypothetical ancestor of the A. thaliana and Brassica (Schranz et al. 2006). A conserved block was defined as a region that contained at least two A. thaliana loci from the same block region. Using this criteria, a total of 67 genomic blocks were identified in the A-genome of B. juncea with an average of 2.8 paralogous blocks for each block recognized in the hypothetical ancestral species.

1.9 Comparative Mapping of Brassica and Arabidopsis Significant proportion of homology between members of the family is expected between Arabidopsis and Brassica since they are the members of the same family. Comparative studies with Arabidopsis with its members are described below for better understanding of the relatedness of these species with reference to the gene flow across the species and the syntenic relationship.

1 Arabidopsis

11

B1 (J17/G7) 0.0

e34t74h719

8.8 9.9

At3g06483 p58m39h405 At1g03910 At3g13120

a 13.2 F

19.1

At3g10572a e45t66v716

26.9 27.9 30.1 35.1

At3g17300b At3g15190b At3g18600* e44m38v420 At3g20920 e34m47h105

44.6

47.2 48.0 51.2 53.9 55.3 56.7 61.6 65.3 69.8

At5g47890 e47m38h130 At5g28750b At5g27830 At5g25080 At5g66290 At1g57680a At1g58220*a e44m39h131 At3g23980 e35t63v144 p53m42h188

74.3

At3g14850*

v 46.4 Q

x

D

F

84.9 85.7 90.7

At3g12260b p33m32h148 At3g09050 At3g08690b*

95.6

e58m40h85

e62t65h147 At1g75980

16.0

e62t65h442

27.5

Ni4-G10

35.2 36.6

At1g68310*b e45m34v192

o

M R

U

0.0 1.0 2.7 4.1 8.6

E T

12.7

N

20.9

At3g63420*a

26.5 27.6 31.2

At3g53190*b At3g55005*b At3g57650* e49m35h803

43.7

p48t67h420

54.6

p33t65h275 At2g21620b

i 58.5 A

e31m60v171 At1g80460 At4g13720 At4g14110 At4g13940*a At3g52990* At3g55430*b e31m47v96 At3g55440*a

63.5 65.9

At1g16740 e31m50v95 At1g15370

71.9 73.2

At2g32080 p32m66v127

82.5 83.2

N

E

46.5 49.0 p 50.0 51.1 o 51.6 54.6 56.8 59.2 63.5 66.5 r 68.0 m 69.3

At3g13062*

B4 (J16/G6)

0.0

Ni3-C05

8.8 10.5

69.8 109.4

B3 (J18/G8)

B2 (J15/G5) 0.0

75.3 79.4 83.0 88.0 88.9 89.7 92.3 97.4 100.0 103.5 105.3 106.1 115.7 120.7 125.9

M O

At4g11790a Ni2-A12 At3g48100* At3g48540a At4g02425a GA-N1 At5g19630 e31m62v199 At5g21070 At4g17050b e51t78h335 At4g18740 At4g24680 At4g15910a At5g10460 At4g18150* At4g20410 At3g45100 At4g23860 At4g19400 At4g21720b At4g16180 At4g16280* At5g07910* Na14-G06b At4g27490 At4g29660 e34m47h309 At4g30790a At4g30950* At4g31130 p33t65v199 At4g33140 p64t66h390 At4g33100 At4g33925 At4g34140a At4g34412 At4g34700b e34m62v219 At4g36960*a At4g37280*b e31m50h174 At4g39350*b e35t69h736

P i a

J

g m p W

R

e44m39v340v At5g65220

28.3

At3g15190a

90.2

At5g63760*

36.1

p58t68v304

97.2

p53t76h342*v

42.6

e60t65h390

At1g47570 e51t78v71 At2g38130* At2g37560

49.9 54.3 57.4 58.1 63.1 64.8

e48m34v837 At2g29980*b e55t73h215 At2g31490c At2g33400* p61m44h145

71.1 74.5

At1g78560*b e62m33h107

At2g36930b

133.7

wg6d7b

68.1 70.7 73.2 78.3 82.5 88.5 90.0 93.1 93.7 94.2 99.8 103.6 108.3 108.8 110.1 113.3 113.8 115.0 125.3 126.9 131.8

p87m38v912

e48m34v838

124.9

At4g04190 e34m43v140h At3g47610 At3g45620* At3g43610 At4g03150b e46m59v402 At4g00585a At4g01310 p53m48v227 At4g01897b At4g10930 At2g26590a At4g10180 At4g10050 e31m61v235 At2g34860 At1g14620a At2g43360 At2g44050 At2g40765a p33m67v370 At2g41530 At2g45690b At2g36530*a e50t70v238 At2g07340 At3g47370* e44m50h298 At4g09820* At4g07666b At5g59140a e31m42h150 At5g17410* At5g17840 At5g15750 p87t77v400 At5g13480* At5g13030

At3g02860 At3g02420b

At3g12260a At3g12120*b

e47m33v212

29.8 32.6 36.1 37.4 38.8 40.5 42.0 44.5 47.3 48.3 50.9 55.9 58.8 59.6 61.2 62.9

5.7

21.3 22.2

120.4

At3g54670*a At3g55005*a e31m47v235h At3g54130 e55t63h137h

0.0

13.5

c 105.9 109.9 111.6

14.6 15.6 17.3 22.2

p65t71h400 At5g09310a At5g01220 At5g02120 p53t82h195

B5 (J11/G1)

F

X

J

e47m43h258

J

Fig. 1.4 Comparison of the B. napus maps to Arabidopsis genome. Synteny between the B. rapa and A. thaliana genomes. (a) Percent coverage of individual chromosomes showing syn-


teny between B. rapa and A. thaliana. (b) Chromosome correspondence between B. rapa and A. thaliana represented by a dot-plot. Source: Mun et al. 2009

12

R. Katam et al. B6 (J14/G4) 0.0

B7 (J13/G3) 0.0 2.4

GE-N1

3.4

A 11.3

K D

A

B

19.4 20.0 23.4 w 26.6 28.3 33.6 h 34.2 41.7 h 42.5 43.8 52.6 54.5 55.5 56.1 56.9 60.9 63.4 69.1

80.2

C

89.3

4.3 7.3 10.0 11.8

e31m62h288 At2g01940* e31m49v94 At5g54750 At1g60430 At1g61780 e62m33h241 At2g20490a At1g10840 At1g12840b e34m50v205 At2g15290 At2g15430*a p53t91h252 At1g18340b GP-N2 At1g18270* At1g19240 p62t78v265 At1g20410 e55t63v224

21.9

38.3 39.8 44.5 46.7 48.0

B

U

p48t67v370

a

B8 (J12/G2)

At1g02410a At1g05850* At1g03330 e31m50v273 At1g03180a At1g05055 At1g05720a At1g08780 At1g09760 p62m59h400

0.0

A

e47m43v846

p64m32v328 At1g28530a At1g28560a At1g26180 e50m39h158 At1g23180b

54.6

At4g34520*b At4g34700a

58.9 62.3 64.3

At1g02090b At4g20150a p62t78h185

71.7

GP-N1

75.7

e50m32h209

83.4 85.2 85.9

At1g02090a At1g01910* e46t65v708

t G H I W

R

At1g49340*b

A

E

H

93.2 93.9 95.7 97.4 102.0 102.9 108.0 111.1

At1g73530* At1g71865 At1g70610* At1g68660 p79t78v127 At1g67170*a At1g67280* At1g79150 p32m66v270 At1g72380b

118.5 121.6

e39m55h163*v At1g78560*a

125.5

At2g20320*a

Fig. 1.5 Genetic map of B. juncea showing three linkage groups of the A-genome (A1, A2, and A3). The corresponding nomenclature followed earlier in B. juncea (J1–J3) and B. napus (N1–N3) is

1.9.1 Comparative Physical Mapping of Arabidopsis and Brassica Species Several comparative genetic maps between Arabidopsis and Brassica species have been constructed, which has significant role in applied plant breeding (Kaczmarek et al. 2009). Most of these markers (93.3%) gave successful amplification of target microsatellite motifs,

p33t66v200

23.5 27.5 29.1 32.6 33.6 36.3 37.7 38.8 40.6 43.9 47.3

At4g15520c p53t82v360 At2g07690* At2g17710 At2g20760*a At2g22000b At2g21620a At2g23090a e39t74v733 At5g58730 At5g22640 e35t63h280

57.7

At5g18200

64.7 65.8

At5g15400b p64m32h258

76.5 77.2 77.7 83.6 85.1

At5g09310b p53m42v139 At5g10070 At5g08280b At5g04920 At5g03770 p62m59v465

106.0 106.6 107.2 111.6 112.8 117.1 119.0 120.4 122.6 126.5 128.9 137.6 139.5

p33m38v260 At4g21720a At5g28750a At5g49510 At4g20150c At4g19140 At4g18230 e44m39v89 At4g16060a At4g15530 At3g51260*b At3g51010 p48m67h295 GE-N2 At4g07666a At5g24314 At5g24490b e62m32v179 At5g27380 At4g25140*b At4g26240a e44m50h105

149.8

p63t78h267

q/w105.2

U

p Q


16.1

99.7 103.8 104.7

N

At1g05720b e50m32v292

given in parentheses. Each genetic locus bears the name of the At (A. thaliana) gene and the color code of the At chromosome from which it is derived. Source: Panjabi et al. 2008

which was confirmed by sequencing. Microsatellites markers were utilized to construct the comparative physical map between B. napus, B. rapa, and Arabidopsis to map serine and Gibberellic acid (Parida et al. 2010). The Brassica markers were physically anchored on the A. thaliana genome, which were useful in studying the evolutionary history of A. thaliana genomic duplications in relation to Brassica species. Comparative

1 Arabidopsis

physical mapping identified 85% of Brassica unigenes as single copy and gave clues for the presence of conserved primordial gene order. Complex chromosomal rearrangements such as inversions, tandem and segmental duplications, and insertions/deletions were evident between A. thaliana and B. rapa genomes. Similar map of B. oleracea and A. thaliana was also constructed using EST-based markers (Lan et al. 2000). Significant level of homology between Brassica and Arabidopsis genome was observed, indicating the possibility that genomic information obtained in Arabidopsis may be utilized in improving Brassicas. Such comparative mapping has been found to be useful in map-based cloning of genes, which can eventually be introduced into the crop plants to improve the traits of interest (Zhang et al. 2009).

1.9.2 QTL Analysis in Arabidopsis and Brassica Species Small-scale sequencing from BAC clones for a particular plant species may provide useful information for undertaking comparative genomics as whole-genome sequencing of every other species is not feasible. Other genomic resources available include recombinant inbred lines (RILs), near isogenic lines (NILs), T-DNA insertion mutants in different genetic backgrounds, which can be used in fine-mapping of QTLs. The database information could also aid in MAS in crop plants, whose genomes has not been sequenced. Continuous breeding for improvement of crop productivity requires the study of quantitative genetics in plants and their effect on genetic variability. A strong correlation between the genomes of Arabidopsis and Brassica was found from the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis, which could be of potential interest for crop improvement in identifying certain genes (Qiu et al. 2004; Qiu et al. 2006). Panjabi et al. (2008) suggested the viability of using polymorphisms in introns for establishing genetic map using suitable markers. Lukens et al. (2003) were able to collate 34 regions in A. thaliana to at least 28% regions of B. oleracea. Advanced molecular and bioinformatics tools, by using MySQL database, MarkerQTL, EnsEMBL, and BioPerl language, are employed to analyze data on

13

genetic markers and the physiological and agronomic traits. These will expedite QTL analysis for agricultural traits of importance. As the B. rapa genome sequencing project (The Multinational Brassica Genome Project) is nearing completion, the sequence information will be used to further test hypotheses of gene conservation, duplication, or loss during the process of evolution, which can be extended to other oilseed crop relatives. Today, we have B. napus BAC clones representing most of the genes, extensive Brassica microsatellite markers and Arabidopsis serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) data, and massively parallel signature sequence (MPSS) tags to expedite gene discovery (Hene et al. 2007). The comparative genomics approach has led to our understanding of the synteny between A, B, C sets of Brassica genome, and relating this information to Arabidopsis genome information will lead to facilitate precision breeding and positional cloning of genes of interest controlling agronomic traits (Panjabi et al. 2008). Brassica chromosomes showed extensive rearrangement as compared to Arabidopsis (Lagercrantz and Lydiate 1996). The presence of at least 74 rearrangements (38 in A and 36 in C-genomes) occurred during the divergence from Arabidopsis (Parkin et al. 2005). These studies enrich our knowledge about recombination and polyploidization events during Brassica evolution.

1.10 Conclusion The world food production must match the predicted increase in human population amidst climate change in the coming years. Food production is a complex process and involves understanding of the multiple pathways, signaling components, and interaction with biotic and abiotic factors. Arabidopsis represents Brassicaceae – an economically important family; therefore, information from this species can be used for crop improvement. The presence of mobile DNA or transposons and polyploidy may have led to genome expansion in the Brassica species. As most genes remain conserved in nature since the time of evolution, showing greater degree of synteny among them, it is worth pulling our limited resources and investing on a model organism, since it has been proved that many genes with known function in

14

Arabidopsis show similar effect across species. Now, as many more species like rice, poplar, grapes, soybean, and sorghum have been sequenced, we can compare these genomes for certain conserved trait across taxa. As more genomic data become available, extensive genome survey sequences and putative physical maps can be used to dissect the crop genomes and relate them to the Arabidopsis model. Moreover, in the coming years, as the Brassica genome sequencing information becomes available, comparative genomics work will gain momentum by analyzing Arabidopsis and Brassica data. This will facilitate crop breeding for increasing productivity, oilseed crop in particular. More components, which are important for deciding productivity, can be more thoroughly analyzed and better strategies can be developed for genetic manipulation.

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15 sification and evolution of the A, B and C Brassica genomes. BMC Genomics 9:113 Parida SK, Yadava DK, Mohapatra T (2010) Microsatellites in Brassica unigenes: relative abundance, marker design, and use in comparative physical mapping and genome analysis. Genome 53:55–67 Park MY, Wu G, Gonzalez-Sulser A, Vaucheret H, Poethig RS (2005) Nuclear processing and export of microRNAs in Arabidopsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:3691–3696 Parkin IAP, Gulden SM, Sharpe AG, Lukens L, Trick M, Osborn TC, Lydiate DJ (2005) Segmental structure of the Brassica napus genome based on comparative analysis with Arabidopsis thaliana. Genetics 171:765–781 Pigliucci M, Schmitt J (2004) Phenotypic plasticity in response to foliar and neutral shade in gibberellin mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana. Evol Ecol Res 6:243–249 Pontes O, Neves N, Silva M, Lewis MS, Madlung A, Comai L, Viegas W, Pikaard CS (2004) Chromosomal locus rearrangements are a rapid response to formation of the allotetraploid Arabidopsis suecica genome. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:18240–18245 Qiu WG, Schisler N, Stoltzfus A (2004) The evolutionary gain of spliceosomal introns: sequence and phase preferences. Mol Biol Evol 21:1252–1263 Qiu D, Morgan C, Shi J, Long Y, Liu J, Li R, Zhuang X, Wang Y, Tan X, Dietrich E, Weihmann T, Everett C, Vanstraelen S, Beckett P, Fraser F, Trick M, Barnes S, Wilmer J, Schmidt R, Li J, Li D, Meng J, Bancroft I (2006) A comparative linkage map of oilseed rape and its use for QTL analysis of seed oil and erucic acid content. Theor Appl Genet 114:67–80 Qiu D, Gao M, Li G, Quiros C (2009) Comparative sequence analysis for Brassica oleracea with similar sequences in B. rapa and Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell Rep 28: 649–661 Quiros CF, Grellet F, Sadowski J, Suzuki T, Li G, Wroblewski T (2001) Arabidopsis and Brassica comparative genomics: sequence, structure and gene content in the ABI1-Rps2-Ck1 chromosomal segment and related regions. Genetics 157: 1321–1330 Ramos-Onsins SE, Stranger BE, Mitchell-Olds T, Aguade´ M (2004) Multilocus analysis of variation and speciation in the closely related species Arabidopsis halleri and A. lyrata. Genetics 166:373–388 Redei GP (1974) Is Hylandra an amphidiploid of Arabidopsis and Cardaminopsis arenosa? Arabidopsis Inf Serv 11:5 Redei GP (1992) A heuristic glance at the past of Arabidopsis genetics. In: Koncz NHCC, Schell J (eds) Methods in Arabidopsis research. World Scientific, Singapore, 115 p Rieseberg LH, Whitton J, Gardner K (1999) Hybrid zones and the genetic architecture of a barrier to gene flow between two sunflower species. Genetics 152:713–727 Rieseberg LH, Baird SJE, Gardner KA (2000) Hybridization, introgression, and linkage evolution. Plant Mol Biol 42: 205–224 Rosenberg NA, Nordborg M (2002) Genealogical trees, coalescent theory, and the analysis of genetic polymorphisms. Nat Rev Genet 3:380–390 Roy BA (1995) The breeding systems of six species of Arabis (Brassicaceae). Am J Bot 82:869–877

16 S€all T, Jakobsson M, Lind-Halldeń C, Halldeń C (2003) Chloroplast DNA indicates a single origin of the allotetraploid Arabidopsis suecica. J Evol Biol 16:1019–1029 Savolainen O, Langley CH, Lazzaro BP, Fre´ville H (2000) Contrasting patterns of nucleotide polymorphism at the alcohol dehydrogenase locus in the outcrossing Arabidopsis lyrata and the selfing Arabidopsis thaliana. Mol Biol Evol 17: 645–655 Schranz ME, Lysak MA, Mitchell-Olds T (2006) The ABC’s of comparative genomics in the Brassicaceae: building blocks of crucifer genomes. Trends Plant Sci 11:535–542 Shimizu KK, Fujii S, Marhold K, Watanabe K, Kudoh H (2005) Arabidopsis kamchatica (Fisch. ex DC.) K. Shimizu & Kudoh and A. kamchatica subsp. kawasakiana (Makino) K. Shimizu & Kudoh, new combinations. Acta Phytotax Geobot 56:163–172 Snowdon RD (2007) Cytogenetics and genome analysis in Brassica crops. Chrom Res 15:85–95 Soltis D, Soltis P (1993) Molecular data and the dynamic nature of polyploidy. Crit Rev Plant Sci 12:243–273 Stebbins GL (1971) Chromosomal evolution in higher plants. E. Arnold, London, UK The Arabidopsis Genome initiative (2000) Analysis of the genome sequence of the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Nature 408:796–815 Town CD, Cheung F, Maiti R, Crabtree J, Haas BJ, Wortman JR, Hine EE, Althoff R, Arbogast RS, Tallon LJ, Vigouroux M, Trick M, Bancroft I (2006) Comparative genomics of Brassica oleracea and Arabidopsis thaliana reveal gene loss,

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Chapter 2

Brassica Ferdinando Branca and Elena Cartea

2.1 Taxonomy of the Genus Brassica species belong to the Brassicaceae (¼ Cruciferae) family and some of them are widely used in human diet mainly as an important source of vegetables, condiments, and edible oils. The use of the related crops is cited in some ancient civilized regions such as in the Mediterranean and in Asia. Brassica taxonomic studies started since 1700 by Tournefort and were continued by Linnaeus (1753), De Candolle (1821), Hooker (1862), Baillon (1871), Prantl (1891), Schulz (1919, 1936), and Beilstein et al. (2006). The genus Brassica is the most economically important genus within the Brassicaceae family and belongs to the subtribe Brassicinae, one of the nine subtribes of the Brassiceae tribe that shares with other 18 tribes a wide gene pool, which over time has been utilized directly or indirectly to improve several crops. Different species of the subtribes Raphaninae and Moricandiinae seem to be closely related to Brassicinae as confirmed by a long series of investigations on the chloroplastDNA (cp-DNA) and restriction sites (Warwick and Black 1991; Pradhan et al. 1992; Warwick et al. 1992; Warwick and Sauder 2005). These authors distinguished vertically among these three tribes of two lineages represented by Rapa/Oleracea and Nigra as suggested earlier by Erickson et al. (1983), Yanagino et al. (1987), Palmer et al. (1983), and Song et al. (1988a, b, 1990).

Ferdinando Branca (*) Dipartimento di OrtoFloroArboricoltura e Tecnologie Agroalimentari (DOFATA), Universita` di Catania, Via Valdisavoia, 5 – I95123, Catania, Italy e-mail: [email protected]

Since the last century, several cytogenetic investigations were carried out to determine chromosome numbers and chromosome pairing in interspecific Brassica hybrids. The small sizes and absence of evident distinguishing marks on the chromosomes did not permit to clarify Brassica pachytene, which was recognized for 36 species (Schulz 1919, 1936). The cytogenetic relationship of the main species of the Brassica genus was depicted in the U triangle (U 1935; Fig. 2.1) in which Brassica nigra (L.) Koch (n ¼ 8), Brassica oleracea L. (n ¼ 9), and Brassica rapa L. (n ¼ 10) represent the three diploid species in the vertices, and they developed by intercrossing to the three amphidiploid species, Brassica carinata A. Braun (n ¼ 17), Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. (n ¼ 18), and Brassica napus L. (n ¼ 19). The genome A was attributed to B. rapa L. (¼ B. campestris in the past), the genome-B to B. nigra and genome-C to B. oleracea. The genome-A is carried by Chinese cabbage, sarson turnip, turnip greens, turnip, and turnip rape crops, which on a morphological basis are assigned, respectively, to the leafy, rapifera and oleifera types. The Chinese cabbage is economically important in Asia as salad; sarson turnip is a minor crop in Europe and in New Zealand where it is utilized for food purposes; turnip greens and turnip tops are highly used in Portugal and northern Spain for culinary uses (Padilla et al. 2005); and turnip rape is widespread in the North America for oilseed production (McNaughton 1995a). B. campestris has been renamed as B. rapa according to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. Oost et al. (1987) used the name since this variant has been largely adopted. The genome-B is possessed by black mustard, which is nowadays diffused in Europe as weed but was well known in the Middle Ages in Europe as condiment. The genome-C is represented by B. oleracea,


17

18

F. Branca and E. Cartea B. nigra (Bbb) b=8

B. juncea (ABaabb) ab = 18

B.campestris (Aaa) a = 10

B. carinata (BCbbcc) bc = 17

B. napus (ACaacc) ac = 19

Raphanobrassica (Rrrcc) rc = 18

B.oleracea (Ccc) c=9

R.sativus (Rrr) r=9

Fig. 2.1 U Triangle. In: Science, New Series, vol. 232, N. 4756, (Jun. 13, 1986), pp 1385–1389 published by American Association for the Advancement of Science

which diversified itself into several botanical varieties and related crops by domestication processes, such as var. acephala, var. botrytis, var. capitata, var. gemmifera, var. gongylodes, var. italica, and var. sabauda, which are represented, respectively, by kale, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussel’s sprout, kohlrabi, broccoli and Savoy cabbage crops (Linnaeus 1753; Lamarck 1784; De Candolle 1821). Among the amphidiploid species, B. carinata is represented by Ethiopian mustard diffused in Abyssinian Plateau derived from the union of the BB and CCgenomes; B. juncea by Indian mustard cultivated in Asia derived from the union of AA and BB-genomes; and B. napus mainly by oilseed rape grown in Asia, Europe, and North America derived from the union of the AA and CC-genomes (McNaughton 1995b). The genetic resources available for the breeding of Brassica crops are regulated by the genetic boundaries of their primary, secondary, and tertiary gene pools (Harlan 1975). B. oleracea represents the primary gene pool by itself, but several studies have been carried out to investigate the other gene pools and their potential utilization. The secondary gene pool was investigated by studies on the pachytene chromosome morphology, which permitted to identify the basic genomes of Brassica crops: AA (2n ¼ 20) for B. rapa, BB (2n ¼ 16) for B. nigra, and CC (2n ¼ 18) for B. oleracea. Investigations on genomic libraries of B. napus and B. oleracea showed shared fragments among A, B, and C-genomes, suggesting their partial

homology and the origin of the amphidiploid species B. napus, B. carinata, and B. juncea from the parental diploid ones (Hosaka et al. 1990; Slocum et al. 1990). The phylogenetic studies explain the evolution of Brassica and allied genera from a common ancestor with n ¼ 6 through increase in the number of chromosomes and partial homology of A, B, and C-genomes (Prakash and Hinata 1980; Song et al. 1990). Finally, the tertiary gene pool includes species and genera related to Brassica crops in 36 cytodemes capable of genetic flux, such as Diplotaxis, Enarthrocarpus, Eruca, Erucastrum, Hirschfeldia, Rhynchosinapis, Sinapis, Sinapodendron, and Trachystoma genera (Harberd 1976). These gene pools can confer favorable alleles and useful characteristics by using special methodologies. Tissue culture techniques, ovary and embryo rescue, and protoplast culture facilitated introgression of useful genes overcoming genetic boundaries. In the last decades, a significant knowledge on pachytene studies was obtained through extensive use of molecular markers. In fact, molecular studies in Brassica species started with the determination of female parents of allopolyploid species using chloroplast-DNA (Palmer et al. 1983; Fukui et al. 1998) using genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) and fluorescence in situ hybridization methodology (FISH), in combination with ribosomal DNA markers (Schelfhout et al. 2004; Maluszynska and Hasterok 2005; Wang et al. 2005; Snowdon 2007). These methodologies

2 Brassica

helped investigation on phylogenetic relationship within Brassica species and also with other related genera. These studies have started to point out the potential germplasm of interest for Brassica genetic improvement that overcomes the biological boundaries. In addition, genomic investigations on Arabidopsis thaliana have facilitated understanding of evolution in the Brassicaceae family, especially for Brassica genus (Arabidopsis Genome Initiative 2000). These recent studies have indicated the constitution of the Brassica coenospecies formed by Brassica and allied taxa prefigured by Harbered (1972). Even though the Himalayan region seems to be the primary center of diversity for Brassicaceae, from where dispersion extends to from North African and European Atlantic coasts to Saharo-Sindian phytochoreas, the southwest Mediterranean area seems to represent the secondary one, if not the primary, in the light of the recent evolutionary evidence recorded (Hedge 1976; Prakash et al. 2009). With regard to morphological characters, high variation is evident among Brassiceae coenospecies with respect to cotyledon, adult leaf, and fruit shape (Go´mez-Campo and Tortosa 1974; Prakash et al. 2009). The cotyledons are from small, slightly longer for Diplotaxis to wider with deeper notch for Brassica, Raphanus, Coincya, and Sinapis. Adult leaf typologies are (1) simple, entire to shallowly lobed; (2) lobed to pinnatifid; (3) pinnatisect with sinuses reaching the midnerve; (4) pinnatisect with reduced number of lateral segments (Prakash et al. 2009). The siliqua shows big variation for heteroarthocarpy, size, rib, rugosety, and wing. The evolutionary progress in Brassica species seems to be represented by the presence of seeds within the stylar cavity (Go´mez-Campo 1999b). Half of the genera of this tribe present several types of seeded beaks showing heteroarthrocarpy. On the latter character, Go´mez-Campo (1999a) formulated the “isthmus concept” of Brassiceae evolution and individuated in Diplotaxis genus the “bridge.” Heteroarthropic siliqua with different beak size and shape is observed in Erucastrum, Hirschfeldia, Sinapis, Coincya, Eurcaria, Trachystoma, Raphanus, Enarthrocarpus, and Brassica genera. Although heteroarthrocarpy seems to represent an evolutionary crossroad, it does not support a monophylogenic evolution as showed by the chloroplast lineages distributed on both side of the “isthmus” (Prakash et al. 2009).

19

2.2 Conservation Initiatives In the past decades, an important loss of natural genetic diversity of many crops has been observed due to many factors such as the introduction of new F1 hybrids, droughts, changes in food habits and agricultural practices, and human activities such as deforestation and migration from rural to urban areas. This process is known as genetic drift. The loss of genetic variability represents not only the loss of wild germplasm but also the loss of evolved landraces resulting from the interaction of environmental selection with the genes present in both wild and cultivated populations. The Brassica genus has not been an exception and, in particular, conservation of wild B. oleracea species has been a high priority. During the 1970s, wild germplasm of Brassica was extensively collected and cytogenetic studies were started. Intensive efforts were made in the last decades to search and collect this material that, otherwise, would be irreversibly lost (Go´mez-Campo et al. 2006, 2007). After 1970s, the introduction of the concept of biodiversity was a strong support for many improvements in ex situ and in situ conservation strategies. Seed banks were created to maintain the genetic diversity of many crops, to minimize genetic erosion, and to supply seed material of landraces and of wild crop relatives for research. Most of the Brassica collections are conserved by means of seeds and, in general, they are conserved under long-term storage conditions to maintain seed viability for many years. The only exception within Brassica crops is a perennial kale (B. oleracea L. var. ramose DC) that can only be vegetatively propagated due to the loss of its ability to flower (Go´mez-Campo 1999a). Ex situ conservation of plant genetic resources in gene banks involves collecting traditional varieties and landraces from around the world and, in particular, from centers of genetic diversity of specific crops. The ex situ conservation also involves the selection of accessions to be conserved and the maintenance of these accessions for current and future users by regeneration. Decisions concerning both these aspects require knowledge about the distribution of genetic diversity within and between accessions sampled from the gene pool. However, they also require knowledge about changes in the variation of these samples as a result of regeneration activities.

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One of the largest collections of wild Brassica species and allied cruciferous genera is kept by the Universidad Politećnica of Madrid (UPM), Spain. This seed bank was created in 1966 and its aim was the long-term ex situ conservation of wild taxa, thus making the accessions available for being used by researchers and breeders. The Plant Germplasm Bank from the UPM includes 600 crucifer accessions and rare and endangered species widespread in the western Mediterranean area and it is available at http://www. etsia.upm.es/ANTIGUA/DEPARTAMENTOS/bio logia/documentos/GC-2000-Int.htm. Since 1982, several expeditions have been carried out by Professor Go´mez-Campo from the UPM and his collaborators in order to rescue and collect Mediterranean populations of wild Brassica species. These missions were supported by the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR), later International Plant Genetic Research Institute (IPGRI), and now Bioversity International and were performed in the Mediterranean coast of Spain, Italy, Greece, and Tunisia and along the Atlantic coast of northern Spain, France, and the UK. As a result, different wild B. oleracea species with a chromosome number of n ¼ 9 (including Atlantic B. oleracea) were collected. Four wild B. oleracearelated species were found in Sicily (B. rupestris, B. incana, B. villosa, and B. macrocarpa). Go´mezCampo and Gustafsson (1991) described the accessions collected in detail and the new locations found. According to the IPGRI policy, each sample was split into three parts, which were stored at the UPM (Spain), the University of Tohoku (Sendai, Japan) and also at seed banks of those countries, where the collection was done (Izmir, Turkey; Thessaloniki, Greece, Bari, Italy; Porquerolles, France; Kew, UK). Recently, two new expeditions have been carried out by the UPM team. The first one targeted the northern coast of Spain (Go´mez-Campo et al. 2005) and the second one was focused on the northeastern coast of Spain in search of new localities and seeds of B. montana (Go´mezCampo et al. 2007). In 1983, that collection was designated as the Global Base Collection for Wild Crucifers by the IBPGR, and in 1994, it was honored with the National Award for Environment by the Government of Spain. Recently, it has been included in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility database (http:// www.gbif.es). The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture that has

F. Branca and E. Cartea

recently been approved established a Multilateral System for having a facilitated access to the germplasm of a number of crops. This includes vegetables such as the Brassica complex with possible implications on the use of the diversity of these crops in the near future. In Europe, and under the aegis of the European Cooperative Program for Crop Genetic Resources Networks (ECP/GR), a working group on Brassicas was established since 1991. One of the main efforts of this group has been to set up a European Brassica database (Bras-EDB), which was developed by the Center for Genetic Resources, Netherlands (Boukema and van Hintum 1998; http://documents.plant.wur.nl/ cgn/pgr/brasedb/). This database includes cultivated materials as well as wild ones and contains 36 collections from 22 countries and more than 19,600 accessions. A list of wild B. oleracea species included in the European Brassica database is shown in Table 2.1. Major updates of Bras-EDB were done in 2001 and 2005, supported financially by the European Commission by means of the project RESGEN CT99 109-112: “Brassica collections for broadening agricultural use, including characterizing and utilizing genetic variation in B. carinata for its exploitation as an oilseed crop.” The major aim was to create a core collection of the four Brassica species included in the project (B. oleracea, B. rapa, B. napus, and B. carinata). This project was an important attempt to unify efforts on Brassica germplasm within the EU and it was complementary to the activities of the ECPGR Working Group on Brassica. Although wild species are included in ex situ collections, most of them are very difficult to regenerate ex situ to make them readily available to users. In this case, germplasm is conserved in its natural habitat (nature reserves) by specific in situ conservation activities. A strategy for in situ conservation of wild species related to B. oleracea has been elaborated by Maggioni et al. (1997). The implementation of a strategy for in situ conservation of wild species of the B. oleracea cytodeme has been recently suggested by the ECPGR Working Group on Brassica as a complementary way of preserving the diversity of these Mediterranean relatives of cultivated Brassica species with n ¼ 9. Priority was assigned to the Sicilian center of diversity, where the level of variability is very high and the populations of B. incana, B. macrocarpa, B. rupestris, and B. villosa are often threatened by

2 Brassica

21 Table 2.1 List of wild n ¼ 9 Brassica species included in the European Brassica database and from the U.P.M. Crucifer Seed Bank Species Subspecies Number accessions Number accessions (Bras-EDB)a (UPM-seed collection)b Brassica albogabra 62 1 Brassica bourgeaui 5 2 Brassica cretica 34 2 Brassica cretica aegaea 25 5 Brassica cretica cretica 38 Brassica cretica laconica 12 2 Brassica drepanensis 5 Brassica hilarionis 4 1 Brassica incana 39 10 Brassica insularis 25 5 Brassica macrocarpa 9 2 Brassica montana 46 8 Brassica oleracea 9 Brassica oxyrrhina 1 1 Brassica rupestris 25 6 Brassica villosa 25 8 a

Available from http://documents.plant.wur.nl/cgn/pgr/brasedb/ Available from http://www.etsia.upm.es/ANTIGUA/DEPARTAMENTOS/biologia/documentos/GC2000-Int.htm b

human activities (Figs. 2.2 and 2.3). The objective will be the evaluation of these wild species under a different point of view (DNA analysis, morphological traits, and quality aspects focused on oils and nutraceutical compounds). The role of the Working Group is seen as a contribution to highlight the usefulness of the wild germplasm for breeding purposes and to select the most appropriate accessions of the future European Genebank Integrated System (Astley et al. 2007). Since 2007, AEGRO GENRES project founded by the European Union deals with a basic research for an Integrated European in situ management work plan to implement Genetic reserves and “on farm” concept. The case of study is related to Avena, Beta, Brassica, and Prunus with a view to develop in situ management work plans for conservation of crop wild relatives (CWR) and landraces. For case study on Brassica, the attention has been paid on a Sicilian wild Brassica with n ¼ 9 widespread in the Island. These studies have to contribute to the development of a CWR in situ conservation strategy for Brassica in Sicily, which will form part of the European integrated work plan for management of CWR (http://aegro.bafz.de). Brassica diversity conservation has been stimulated by setting up a specific core collection named Diversity Foundation Sets (DFSs), designed to represent “an informative set of genetically fixed lines representing

a structured sampling of diversity across a genepool,” which is under development at the Warwick HRI. These collections are based on founder accessions sourced from ex situ genetic resource collections (see http://www.Brassica.info/diversity/diversity_sets. htm). They are designed to represent the diversity within the B. oleracea crop gene pool (BolDFS) whilst the Brassica C-genome Diversity Fixed Foundation Set (BCgDFS) aims to fix the diversity of B. oleracea, which represent the C-genome with the wild Brassica species (n ¼ 9) that could be its wild relatives. One of the main problems that germplasm curators must face is to maintain collections in active banks in good conditions of viability to minimize the need for regeneration (Go´mez-Campo et al. 2006). Regeneration of Brassica is very costly. Therefore, good storage conditions are essential in order to maintain the seed viability. Go´mez-Campo (2002) evaluated 40 different types of containers according to their ability to exclude water vapor, by using silica gel with a cobalt indicator. Only sealed brass cans, “Kilner” jars with rubber seals, laboratory bottles normally used for liquid chemicals, or flame-sealed glass ampoules were considered to be safe for use in long-term preservation. The 36 remaining containers allowed moisture to enter within 2 or 3 years or less. Currently, Brassica seeds at the UPM are kept in flame-sealed glass vials,

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Brassica balearica Pers.

Brassica cretica Lam.

Brassica drepanensis (Caruel) Ponzo

Brassica hilarionis Post.

Brassica incana Ten.

Brassica macrocarpa Guss.

Brassica montana Pourr

Brassica rupestris Raf.

Brassica villosa Biv.

Fig. 2.2 Plant morphological diversity of Brassica wild species

having silica gel to ensure low moisture content, because this method is very convenient for smallsized seeds as those of Brassicas. Other possibilities to adapt this method to crop species have been explored (see www.seedcontainers.net). More recently, Pe´rezGarcıá et al. (2007, 2008) concluded that the seed preservation method based on silica gel and low temperature (5 C and 10 C) have proved to be highly efficient for Brassicaceae and other plant families and proposed the possibility of using ultra-dry methods for medium and long-term storage of orthodox seeds. Another method to preserve seed germplasm is cryopreservation. It consists of storing the material at temperatures near that of liquid nitrogen (196 C).

Under these conditions, all enzymatic processes are practically halted, and it is thought that any type of biological plant material (meristems, embryos, pollen, seeds, somatic tissues, etc.) can thus be preserved for an infinite period of time. For an efficient cryopreservation, it is fundamental to avoid the intracellular formation of ice crystals, which are highly damaging for the cell internal structures. Pe´rez-Garcıá et al. (1996) evaluated the effect of cryopreservation on seeds of seven wild and cultivated Brassica taxa. They concluded that Brassica seed cryopreservation is a suitable procedure for the longterm maintenance of seed accessions of this genus (wild and cultivated species) in seed banks. Low

2 Brassica

23

Brassica balearica Pers.

Brassica cretica Lam.

Brassica desnottesii Emb & Maire

Brassica drepanensis Caruel Ponzo

Brassica elongata Ehrh

Brassica fruticulosa Cirillo

Brassica hilarionis Post.

Brassica incana Ten.

Brassica macrcarpa Guss.

Brassica montana Pourr.

Brassica rupestris Raf.

Brassica villosa Biv.

Fig. 2.3 Plant morphological diversity of Brassica wild species

temperature preservation is very effective not only for maintaining germplasm but also for the storage of mature pollen, vegetative stems, cell and protoplast suspensions, and microspores of many species. Microspore cryopreservation is a potentially powerful method for long-term storage of germplasm destined to in vitro embryo production in plant species. Charne et al. (1988) described the method of cryopreservation

of isolated microspores of rapeseed in liquid nitrogen without loss of embryogenic capacity and proposed this approach as a useful method to increase the efficiency of the rapeseed haploid system. On the other hand, Chen and Beversdorf (1992) found that isolated microspores of B. napus could be stored stably for an extended period of time by using cryopreservation and proposed that this storage system can be used in the

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rapeseed breeding program to produce doubled haploid lines. In the US, the database for Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) maintain at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center the accessions held by the Regional Plant Introduction Stations. This collection is duplicated and stored for a long term at the National Seed Storage Laboratory at Fort Collins (ARS-GRIN 1997). In China, the Chinese Genetic Resources Information System – CGRIS – supports the national network of regional gene banks coordinated by the Institute of Crop Germplasm Resources, which has the responsibility for the long-term conservation of genetic resources.

2.3 Origin and Evolution of Allied Crops The relationship among the different Brassica species started to be explained by Morinaga (1934) and U (1935) with the already-cited U-triangle, and according to them, the diploid species B. rapa (AA-genome), B. nigra (BB-genome), and B. oleracea (CC-genome) originated along the same time as the allotretrapoid species B. juncea (AABB), B. napus (AACC), and B. carinata (BBCC). During domestication process of each species, divergent selection enriched the diversity of the correspondent cultivars and crops. Natural hybridization events have been the basis of genome evolution of Brassica and interspecific crosses enabling gene exchange contributed significantly to the differentiation of the genus by generating new types or species, allowing gene exchange across boundary species. Of course, genome similarity is required to ensure chromosome pairing and genetic recombination (Leflon et al. 2006). Several studies have permitted to study the possible phylogeny of the species also by the creation of new species since 1920s when Karpechenko developed the synthetic genus Raphanobrassica by crossing of Raphanus sativus with B. oleracea var. capitata to combine their desirable traits. Archeological evidences of the main diploid species suggest B. rapa (turnip rape) and B. nigra (black mustard) to be the first domesticated species similarly as the amphidiploid B. juncea (Indian mustard) that originated from crosses among the two former species. Cytogenetic evidences suggest that the evolution of


the diploid species started with B. nigra and was followed by B. rapa and B. oleracea. Molecular studies discard the monophyletic origin and suggest B. oleracea and B. rapa to have a common origin and the same progenitor, whereas B. nigra evolved from another one (Namai 1976; Prakash and Hinata 1980; Song et al. 1988a; Pradhan et al. 1992; Palmer et al. 1983). This is confirmed by the two lineages “nigra” and “rapa/oleracea” of subgen. Brassica as suggested by several authors (Song et al. 1990; Warwick and Black 1991; Pradhan et al. 1992). The former lineage show higher affinities with the genera Hirschfeldia and Sinapis and with some species of Diplotaxis and Erucastrum, whereas the latter with all the species belonging to Sect. Brassica, Sect. Rapa and Sect. Brassicoide, and with the species B. barrelieri and B. oxyrrhina of the Sect. Sinapistrum (Go´mez-Campo 1999a). Alloploid species were originated by unidirectional natural interspecific hybridizations, whereas B. nigra and B. rapa were the cytoplasmic donors of B. carinata and B. juncea, and B. oleracea was the cytoplasmic donor of B. napus (Erickson et al. 1983; Palmer et al. 1983; Warwick and Black 1991; Pradhan et al. 1992). The evolution of the species was identified by the mitochondria and chloroplast genomes, which are co-inherited and thereby could evidence for the more recent origin of the allopolyploid species. Among them, B. juncea seems to be originated earlier in comparison to B. carinata and B. napus. The analysis of the cytoplasmatic genomes offered by maternal parents indicated stable genome for B. juncea and B. carinata, whereas B. napus seems to have a polyphyletic origin where B. oleracea seems to play an important role (Song and Osborn 1992; Parkin and Lodiate 1997). This fits with the hypothesis that B. oleracea was originated later than other Brassica diploid species (Quiro´s et al. 1985). B. nigra (L.) Koch. is well known since the Greek civilization for its medicinal proprieties (Hippocrates 480 BC). This species is widespread in the Mediterranean basin and in some central Asian and Middle East areas and is cited as “mustard” in the New Testament for its fast growing habit. During that time, attention had been paid to similar uses of B. juncea and B. carinata in spite of B. nigra, which contributed as parent to the origin of both the former species. The proposed ancestor of B. nigra is Sinapis arvensis, which show high homology in terms of nuclear

2 Brassica

DNA, cp-DNA, and protein fraction with B. nigra (Song et al. 1988a; Warwick and Black 1991; Pradhan et al. 1992; Poulsen et al. 1994). In addition, high degrees of pairing and similar genetic sequences were detected for the interspecific hybrids of B. nigra S. arvensis (Mizushima 1950; Cheng and Heneen 1995). Other candidate ancestors of nigra lineage seem to be Hirshfeldia incana (n ¼ 7) with some Erucastrum species, of which fruits are less specialized in comparison to the species, and those belonging to the Sect. Rhynchocarpon of Diplotaxis and to Sinapidendron genera, the latter showing seedless beak Go´mez-Campo (1999a). High degree of similarity for nuclear DNA and cp-DNA has been ascertained also for B. fruticulosa (Takahata and Hinata 1983; Song et al. 1990; Warwick and Black 1991; Pradhan et al. 1992). Turnip is widespread in natural habitat from Mediterranean to central Asia as a weed and probably was the first Brassica domesticated because it is very rustic, invasive, and easy to grow. In addition, it has several uses, and for that, it has been considered along the time as a multifunctional crop. Since some millennia ago, B. rapa (syn. B. campestris) was domesticated to use its roots, young flowering shoots, and seeds by several civilizations. Turnip was recovered from the Neolithic sites and was proposed in cultivation around 2500–2000 BC (De Candolle 1886; Hyams 1971). Plinius (23–79 AD) distinguished domesticated forms having flat and round roots from wild ones with big roots, whereas Columella (ca. 60 AD) mentioned types called as “Long Roman,” “Round of Spain,” “Syrian,” “White,” and “Egyptian.” Leafy vegetable forms were differentiated in western Asia from oilseed forms of B. rapa introduced through central Asia, and among them, pak-choi (subsp. chinensis) was the first to be utilized in China (Li 1982). The subsp. pekinensis, well known as Chinese cabbage, originated around the tenth century from the hybridization between pak-choi and turnip and that has been confirmed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis (Song et al. 1988b). The European oleiferous B. rapa forms were developed in the Mediterranean basin whereas the Asian forms in the central Asia and Northwest India. In the latter area are distributed the brown sarson, toria, and yellow sarson. The oldest form seems to belong to the brown sarson, which is different from toria by plant morphology and size, and growing

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period, whereas the yellow sarson is distinguished by yellow colored seed and self-compatibility. Yellow sarson is cited in the ancient Asian literature around 1500 BC (Prakash 1961; Watt 1989) and B. rapa seeds were identified in the stomach of a Tollund man who lived in Denmark in the fourth century BC (Renfrow 1973). Several authors agree with the comparative morphological studies of Sun (1946), which proposed two evolutionary lines of B. rapa, one western, in Europe and central Asia, where turnip and oilseed forms were domesticated, and the another eastern, in East Asia, in the areas of diversification of several vegetable forms. These two independent centers of origin of B. rapa are supported by morphological, geographical, and molecular evidences (Denford and Vaughan 1977; Song et al. 1988b). B. oleracea, for example, is represented by several varieties, which originated several crops very different for growth habits and organ morphology. Among these, var. acephala, which is represented by several and diversified landraces of kale in the Mediterranean European countries, seems to be the evolutionary bridge for the other varieties of B. oleracea. In fact, the great variability exhibited by a core collection of European kale landraces studied by the Universities of Alnarp and Catania seems to support this hypothesis. In any case, kale landraces are often widely present in Europe in areas where the wild Brassica species related to B. oleracea are diffused and all of them are perennials. Furthermore, some wild Brassica species sprouts until now and are gathered and utilized in some Sicilian villages when young inflorescences start to flower to utilize the fleshy leaves and the tender shoots. Among all the varieties of B. oleracea, only var. acephala shows this characteristic, and its variants are cited in ancient Greek and Latin literature (Maggioni et al. 2010). Several authors indicate the Mediterranean basin as the center of diversity of B. oleracea, at least for broccoli and cauliflower, where several wild Brassica species (n ¼ 9) are widespread and show great diversity (Gray 1982; Smith and King 2000). Recently, linguistic and literary considerations on the origin and domestication of B. oleracea crops suggest that its domestication process started in ancient Greek-speaking areas of the central and East Mediterranean areas (Maggioni et al. 2010). In any case, the B. oleracea gene pool is very rich in Sicily where B. drepanensis, B. incana, B. macrocarpa, B. rupestris, and B. villosa are

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Fig. 2.4 Tetrasomy ascertained for BoAP1 SSR primer for some genotypes of crop wild relatives of Brassica widespread in Sicily

widespread, and in some areas, they are strictly associated among themselves and with B. oleracea crops (Branca 2008). Snogerup (1980) suggested multiple origins of several B. oleracea crops, which are the Atlantic coast for cabbage and the Mediterranean basin for kale, broccoli, and cauliflower. Glucosinolate profile of these wild species is also diversified in Sicily and, in some cases, is specific for each species (Song et al. 1990; Horn and Vaughan 1983; Mithen et al. 1987; Velasco and Becker 2000; Branca et al. 2002). In any case, F1 hybrids between B. oleracea and wild Brassica are often fully fertile (Mithen et al. 1987; von Bothmer et al. 1995; Faulkner et al. 1998; Go´mez-Campo 1999a). Recent DNA analysis with molecular techniques support high similarity between Sicilian wild Brassica species (n ¼ 9) and B. oleracea (Song et al. 1990; Lanner et al. 1996; La´zaro and Aguinagalde 1996; Lanner 1998; Tatout et al. 1999; Geraci et al. 2001). Recently, more similarity was observed between B. oleracea and the Mediterranean wild Brassica species than the UK B. oleracea wild types (Allender et al. 2007). Utilizing the simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker BoAP1, higher number of alleles were found in the wild Brassica species than in cabbage and cauliflower. BoAp1-a locus located in a single genomic region on linkage group O6 chromosome of B. oleracea with the other ones (BoCAL, BoLFY, BoAP1-c, BoREM1, BoFULL, etc.) is related to MADs-box genes involved in flower development and evolution (Duclos and Bjo¨rkman 2005). This O6 chromosomal region is strictly related to self-incompatibility controlled by the

S-locus. This genomic region seems to be the key for selection while evolution of cauliflower that had been a subject of heavy pressure for diversification of B. oleracea originally utilized for its vegetative organs. Recently, characterization of Sicilian wild Brassica species carried out in the frame of the EU GENRESAEGRO project, based on biomorphological, biochemical, and molecular descriptors, has started to provide important information on the genetic diversity of the BoAP1-a alleles of several wild populations in comparison to landraces of broccoli, cauliflower, and kale. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) DNA sequence related to the BoAP1 SSR marker showed diversity of alleles for this locus. In addition, in some wild populations near villages, where B. oleracea crops are usually grown in several home gardens, have individuated trisonomy and tetrasomy, the signs of interspecific hybridizations with landraces (Fig. 2.4). Several studies are in progress to gain comprehensive knowledge on the genetic diversity in Sicily with a view to individuate adequate methodologies for on-farm and in situ conservation and, in the latter case, to establish genetic reserve for Brassica.

2.4 Role in Crop Improvement Through Traditional and Advanced Tools Considerable progress has been accomplished in the cellular and molecular biology of Brassica species in the past years. The use of molecular markers in marker-assisted selection and breeding, genetic

2 Brassica

transformation technology for the introduction of desirable traits and a comparative analysis of these traits are important components of the current research on this genus. Research priority in the Brassica genus was initially focused on polyploidy breeding. This original aim was later modified to the exploitation of wild allies for introgression of nuclear genes for desirable traits, cytoplasmic substitutions, and construction of chromosome maps. In the long history of the variety development of Brassica crops, genetic introgression from wild donor plants was a major approach for the introduction of valuable genes and traits. Crosses between and among B. oleracea and Cgenome relatives are known to produce fertile or semi-fertile offspring (Kianian and Quiros 1992; Go´mez-Campo 1999a). Thus, transfer of desirable genes governing qualitative and quantitative characters from wild allies into cultivated forms can be achieved both by conventional crosses and biotechnology, depending on the relatedness and crossability of the donor wild species with Brassica crops. The new technologies have facilitated breeding programs, increased the efficiency of locating desirable traits, and have opened up new opportunities for using genes that were previously inaccessible. The level of success to transfer useful genetic variation from wild sources through crosses depends on many factors such as the extent of diversity that can be accessed to introduce useful variation, the risk to introduce deleterious traits, the possibility to use a particular valuable allele in different genetic backgrounds, and the efficiency with which useful alleles can be transferred. Moreover, most of the wild species are difficult to exploit in research programs mainly because of their extended vegetative phase or due to the difficulty to obtain homozygous material (doubled haploid lines) by in vitro culture. As the wild germplasm belongs to second and tertiary gene pools, several kinds of hybridization operate. Consequently, many of the wild species are sexually incompatible with the crop species, thus making the genes present in wild forms inaccessible. Sexual incompatibility has been overcome by advances in cellular and molecular biology, which facilitate transfer of desirable genes into plants and cloning and manipulation of genes. Several forms of manipulations have been carried out to obtain sexual hybrids as bud pollinations, grafting or mixed pollina-

27

tions, and subsequent ovule or embryo rescue techniques (Inomata 1985). In addition to traditional breeding methods, interspecific and intergeneric crosses have been facilitated with various approaches, such as somatic cell genetics and recombinant DNA techniques. Interspecific and intergeneric hybrids in Brassica crops produced by sexual and asexual hybridization, embryo rescue, and genetic manipulations have been described in several reviews (Glimelius 1999; Christhey 2004). In the recent past, the development of in vitro techniques, such as ovary and embryo culture and somatic hybridization, has increased greatly. The embryo culture technique allows overcoming the post-fertilization barriers between distant related species, while the somatic approach becomes the best method of choice to realize hybridization where pre-fertilization barriers exist. Somatic hybridization has been extensively used in the Brassicaceae with the additional merit of inducing cytoplasmic variability and recombination of cytoplasmic and nucleic genomes, which is not possible through conventional methods of sexual hybridization (reviewed by Glimelius 1999; Christhey 2004; Liu et al. 2005). The introgression of valuable traits by interspecific hybridizations from wild Brassicas can be traced back in literature to 1950 for sexual cross and to 1979 for somatic hybridization (Prakash et al. 2009). Despite the advantages, somatic hybridization also has some drawbacks. The technique needs to be improved since only a limited number of hybrids are produced in many experiments, thus reducing the possibility of selecting usable plants among hybrids. A detailed review of the intrageneric, intergeneric, and intertribal somatic hybrids along with the traits of interest incorporated has been published by Glimelius (1999). Regarding B. oleracea wild relatives, hybrids between them and their cultivated forms resulted to be at least partially fertile. Hybrids like B. napus plants derived from in vitro culture of embryos resulting from crosses between B. cretica and B. rapa were obtained by Inomata (1985) and hybrids obtained from this cross may be valuable in broadening the narrow genetic base of oilseed rape. Other interspecific hybrids by embryo rescue between B. cretica, B. montana, and B. bourgeaui with B. napus and B. rapa were obtained by the same author (Inomata 1986, 1987, 1993, 2002). On the other hand, Prakash and Chopra (1990) and Mithen and Herron (1991)

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obtained hybrids by sexual hybridization between B. oxyrrhina (as female) and B. rapa (as male) and between B. atlantica (as male) and B. rapa (as female). Wild Brassica species possess a number of useful agronomic traits. They have been widely used in plant breeding programs to broaden the genetic base in most Brassica crop species. They have also been used as sources of donor elite alleles, controlling economically important quantitative traits including crop production, disease and pest resistance, tolerance to abiotic stresses (cold, salt and drought conditions), and specialty components of quality attributes (seed oil or glucosinolates) (Ramsey and Ellis 1994). Moreover, wild relatives could be incorporated into breeding programs, including cytoplasmic and nuclear male sterility for the development of hybrid seed production. Warwick et al. (2000) published a guide to wild Brassica germplasm that provides information on their growth form, chromosome number, geographical distribution, and quality and agronomic traits of interest. Examples of wild relatives of B. oleracea as potential sources of desirable traits are shown in Table 2.2. Regarding biotic stresses, it has been found that wild B. oleracea species can carry important resistance traits related to biotic stresses, and a number of potential sources of resistance are available among wild allies against various pathogens. Gene introgression from wild relatives by using different approaches (sexual hybridization, embryo rescue, protoplast fusion, and genetic transformations) can be found in the literature. For instance, it has been found that wild B. oleracea populations from Sicily are resistant against the flea beetle disease (Palaniswamy and Bodnaryk 1994); B. incana has been proved to be the best source of resistance against Verticillium wilt among different cultivated and wild forms of B. oleracea species including B. cretica, B. incana, B. insularis, and B. villosa (Happstadius et al. 2003). Because sources of resistance to this fungal disease are not found in the oilseed rape germplasm, finding of these results are of great interest. Regarding pest resistance, Ellis et al. (2000) found germplasm resistant to Brevicoryne brassicae within wild B. oleracea including B. villosa and B. incana and also identified sources of resistance to Delia radicum in wild species (Ellis et al. 1999). In general, satisfactory genetic control of pathogens and virus diseases has not been achieved by using wild Brassica species. This is primarily due to the absence of sources of resistance for the most


severe pathogens of Brassica crops. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop methods for identifying resistance genes in the wild species. Informative reviews have been published on pest resistance (Earle et al. 2004) and disease resistance (Tewari and Mithen 1999). Regarding the quality attributes related to the seed fatty acid composition, the use of B. villosa, B. incana, and B. rupestris as sources of high erucic acid, which is highly appreciated for different industrial uses, merits a special mention (Velasco et al. 1998). The potential use of several wild B. oleracea species, mainly B. villosa as a donor of beneficial glucosinolates, such as glucoiberin or glucoraphanin that are closely related to human health due to anticarcinogenic properties has also been reported (Mithen et al. 1987; Faulkner et al. 1998). Among other wild B. oleracea species from the n ¼ 9 complex that are useful as donors of valuable genes, special attention should be paid to B. oxyrrhima (Prakash and Chopra 1990), which has been used as a donor species for the development of new cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines and B. hilarionis and B. macrocarpa, which have also been identified as potential donors of resistance to pod shattering (Mithen and Herron 1991; Table 2.2).

2.5 Genomics Resources Developed Genetic studies in Brassicaceae can be traced back to the first half of the twentieth century. However, most progress in comparative mapping was made since the beginning of the 1990s, and this was coincided with a period of rapid progress in molecular marker technologies. Molecular markers have been intensively used in Brassica species, and preliminary maps were constructed by employing restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), and DNA fingerprinting (Quiro´s 2001; Quiro´s and Paterson 2004). The development of genetic maps in Brassica has been used for two purposes: first, to utilize them in genetics and breeding, and second, to analyze the genetic relationships among Brassica crops and wild related species. More precisely, wild forms of Brassica (including some n ¼ 9 Sicilian populations) have been studied by using RAPDs (Lanner et al. 1996; La´zaro and Aguinagalde 1996, 1998), RFLPs (Song et al. 1990),

2 Brassica

29

Table 2.2 Wild Brassica oleracea species as sources of desirable traits Trait Species Agronomic traits Resistance to pod shattering Brassica macrocarpa Brassica hilarionis Quality traits Glucosinolates Wild Brassica oleracea complex High glucoraphanin Brassica villosa High erucic acid (> 45–50%)

Breeding systems Cytoplasmic male sterility Biotic stress Disease resistance Blackleg – Leptosphaeria maculans (Phoma lingam)

Flea beetle (Phyllotreta cruciferae) and P. striolata Cabbage white fly (Aleyrodes proletella)

Cabbage root fly – Delia radicum

Mithen et al. (1987a)

Brassica cretica Brassica villosa Brassica incana Brassica rupestris Brassica oxyrrhina

Prakash and Chopra (1990)

Brassica insularis

Mithen et al. (1987b), Mithen and Herron (1991), Mithen and Magrath (1992) Mithen et al. (1987b), Mithen and Herron (1991), Mithen and Magrath (1992) Mithen et al. (1987b), Mithen and Herron (1991), Mithen and Magrath (1992) Happstadius et al. (2003) Greenhalgh and Mitchell (1976)

Brassica macrocarpa

Insect resistance Cabbage aphid (Brevicoryne brassicae)

Mithen and Herron (1991) Mithen and Herron (1991)

Faulkner et al. (1998), Mithen et al. (2003), Sarikamis et al. (2006) Yaniv et al. (1991) Velasco et al. (1998) Velasco et al. (1998) Velasco et al. (1998)

Brassica atlantica

Verticillium wilt Downy mildew – Peronospora parasitica

Reference

B. incana Brassica oleracea, wild accessions B. incana B. villosa Brassica incana

Ellis et al. (2000) Ellis et al. (2000) Bodnaryk (1992)

Brassica villosa Brassica cretica Brassica incana Brassica villosa Brassica spinosa Brassica. insularis, Brassica incana Brassica villosa Brassica macrocarpa

Bodnaryk (1992) Ramsey and Ellis (1994) Ramsey and Ellis (1994) Ramsey and Ellis (1994) Ramsey and Ellis (1994) Ramsey and Ellis (1994) Ellis et al. (1999) Ellis et al. (1999) Ellis et al. (1999)

and by analyzing specific sequences of chloroplast DNA (cp-DNA) (Lanner 1998). Nowadays, Brassica databases have been developed and are being made publicly available (http:// www.brassica.info/resources.php), managing information related to Brassica genetics and genomics. A set of sequence accessions, genetic maps, and markers are accessible at http://brassica.bbsrc.ac.uk/BrassicaDB/. In addition, this database is currently the original source of information about the “BBSRC

set” of Brassica SSR markers. Among genetic resources, bacterial E. coli clones are widely used to isolate and characterize subsets of DNA and RNA sequences and are especially useful for characterizing complex genomes such as of Brassica. Genomic bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries are now available for B. rapa, B. oleracea, and B. napus. These databases are complemented with expressed sequence tags (ESTs) together with reference to doubled haploid mapping populations, associated linkage maps, and

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public domain molecular markers (http://www.brassica.info/ssr/SSRinfo.htm). The major advances in comparative genetics and molecular cytogenetics in cultivated and wild species, as well as the potential of Arabidopsis genomic resources for comparative studies, have been the scope of recent reviews in the last 10–15 years (Qiu et al. 2009). Species of the Brassica genus are closely related to A. thaliana, which also belongs to the Brassicaceae family. This close relationship between the two genera, Arabidopsis and Brassica, is reflected by an average identity of exon sequences at the nucleotide level, which is estimated to be 87% (Cavell et al. 1998). The completion of the Arabidopsis genome sequence (The Arabidopsis Genome Initiative 2000) has provided a valuable resource for identifying genes involved in agronomic and nutritional aspects of Brassica species, including the genes responsible for head formation in cauliflower and broccoli (Lan and Paterson 2000) and the genes involved in glucosinolate biosynthesis (Li and Quiro´s 2003). As anticipated by Lan et al. (2000), the generation of ESTs in A. thaliana holds an enormous potential for the cross-genomic analysis of alleles conferring specific phenotypes to Brassica. For instance, ESTs from Arabidopsis have been used as RFLP markers in B. oleracea, for comparison of the genomes of both species (Babula et al. 2003). Batley et al. (2007) demonstrated the utility of EST-SSRs for the genetic analysis of wild Brassica populations and commercial Brassica germplasm, since these markers were polymorphic and showed a consistent amplification and genome specificity. A summary of EST clones in different Brassica species can be found at http://www. brassica.info/resource/clones.php. The genetic diversity and relationships among Cgenome species have been well studied based on ecogeographic, phenotypic, and genotypic information (see Go´mez-Campo 1999a). However, it is difficult to make comparisons between molecular studies, as different genetic marker systems have been used on different populations and accessions of variable or loosely defined provenance. Both nuclear and organelle-based molecular markers have been used to generate genotypic datasets. Song et al. (1990) used RFLP analysis to compare B. oleracea and nine C-genome wild species with B. rapa and found that B. oleracea formed a paralogous clade with its wild relatives. However, studies using other marker systems suggest


different evolutionary relationships. Dendrograms based on RAPD markers (La´zaro and Aguinagalde 1996; Geraci et al. 2001) and isozyme data (La´zaro and Aguinagalde 1998) indicated that B. oleracea clustered with species such as B. montana and B. incana. In contrast, Tatout et al. (1999) used short interspersed nuclear element (SINE) transposons as markers and found that B. oleracea and B. incana were more similar to species such as B. hilarionis. A detailed study of the relationships within the B. oleracea cytodemes was carried out by Lanner (1998) who used non-coding sequence from the chloroplast genome to examine diversity and relationships between B. oleracea and nine C-genome species. More recently, Allender et al. (2007) assessed the utility of chloroplast SSRs as markers for diversity and phylogeographic studies among the Brassica species (n ¼ 9) and found that diversity revealed by chloroplast SSRs is present in the Mediterranean wild species and is apparently almost absent from the contemporary UK natural populations of B. oleracea itself. This finding has implications both for the conservation of natural genetic diversity and for the search for novel sources of alleles to be used in crop improvement programs.

2.6 Scope for Domestication and Commercialization In the past, people depended exclusively on herbal remedies or traditional medicines and used some wild plants for cosmetic and perfumery purposes. Nevertheless, in the recent years, medicinal plants have represented a primary health care source for the pharmaceutical and perfumery industries. Global trend leading to increased demand of medicinal plants for pharmaceuticals, phytochemicals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, and other products is an opportunity sector for wild and cultivated Brassica species. In that context, wild relatives of B. oleracea could have potential as sources of oil, condiments, and other products and, therefore, they can be used for food, medicinal purposes, (nutraceutical crops) and alternative uses as biocide crops. Medicinal plants contain biologically active chemical substances such as coumarins, volatile oils, alkaloids, etc. In addition to these substances, plants may

2 Brassica

contain other chemical compounds. In Brassicaceae, phytochemicals such as indole phytoalexins, phenolics, and glucosinolates are the most abundant. All of these phytochemicals contribute to the antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, and cardiovascular protective activities of Brassica vegetables (Podsedek 2007; Jahangir et al. 2009), which increase their value as therapeutic compounds to be used in medicine and as food supplements in the human diet and their value as biocides or pest deterrents in agriculture. More specifically, and regarding glucosinolates, numerous studies have highlighted the idea that glucosinolates produced by plants may be useful as plant protection agents, as dietary supplements, and for obtaining pharmaceutical products for treating cancer, viral infections, or autoimmune diseases. After tissue damage, myrosinase (thioglucoside glucohydrolase) hydrolyzes the naturally occurring glucosinolates present, thus producing a number of end products including isothiocyanates, thiocyanate ions, nitriles, and epithionitriles according to the type of glucosinolates present and the exact hydrolysis conditions. Among these, isothiocyanates display different biological functions that allow their use as food, drugs, or fine chemicals. Many wild members of the B. oleracea species complex have high levels of individual aliphatic glucosinolates (Mithen et al. 1987). The first studies about leaf and seed glucosinolates content in wild B. oleracea relatives can be found in the eighties. Mithen et al. (1987) analyzed leaf glucosinolates in 18 B. oleracea populations, including wild and cultivated crops, and found a great variability among species in glucosinolate content and profile. The major glucosinolate found in B. montana, B. incana, and B. cretica subsp. cretica was gluconapin, whereas B. rupestris does not contain gluconapin but contains glucoiberin; B. drepanensis contains glucoiberin and glucoiberverin, whereas B. macrocarpa, B. insularis, and B. cretica subsp. laconica showed a very high content of sinigrin. In the same study, wild populations showed a higher total glucosinolate content than the cultivars. Mithen (2001) provided further details about the range of glucosinolate contents found within wild and cultivated Brassica species, and environmental factors that influence glucosinolate expression. Afterwards, Branca et al. (2002) evaluated the content and profile of glucosinolates in the Sicilian B. oleracea germplasm including wild species related to it. They also found a great level of variability in glucosinolate

31

content in most crops and wild species, and wild types showed low contents of glucoiberin and progoitrin. Horn and Vaughan (1983) evaluated seed glucosinolates of 14 wild Brassica species including B. insularis, B. incana, and B. oxyrrhina. Neither B. insularis nor B. incana showed sinigrin in their seeds, while B. incana gave a high level of gluconapin. B. insularis showed an unusual pattern of glucosinolates, having low levels of progoitrin and high levels of gluconasturtiin and some benzyl glucosinolates. More recently, Velasco and Becker (2000) evaluated a germplasm collection of 20 Brassica species (including accessions of B. incana, B. montana, B. oxyrrhina, B. rupestris, and B. villosa). In that work, B. montana had the highest glucosinolate content, and authors concluded that the detected variability in this species might be useful for the development of Brassica crops containing high glucosinolate content and specific glucosinolate profiles. Studies on the glucosinolate genetics in these taxa have been essential for elucidating the genetic pathway for glucosinolate biosynthesis. It is evident that certain species in this group could be valuable in Brassica breeding programs designed to specifically enhance glucoraphanin and/or glucoiberin and, by so doing, to enhance the anticarcinogenic potential of the plant. Several recent research programs indicate that isothiocyanates derived from the hydrolysis of glucoiberin and glucoraphanin glucosinolates may be important for human diet in preventing the development of cancer. Glucoiberin shows to have phase 2 enzyme induction activity, and glucoraphanin is the precursor of the anticarcinogenic isothiocyanate sulforaphane (Mithen 2001). The possible chemoprotective effect of these compounds has led to the interest in the dietary intake of glucosinolates and isothiocyanates in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables. In an effort to obtain higher levels of these glucosinolates, formulated foods containing designed glucosinolates are being developed. The idea is to provide an elevated level of certain isothiocyanates to the consumer, particularly those that have been found to have health benefits. The major finding from studies about glucosinolates in a wild B. oleracea complex was that they are members of the B. villosa-rupestris complex from Sicily, which possesses a nonfunctional GSL-ALK allele that turns these populations into useful donors of beneficial glucosinolates and into wild progenitors

32

of cultivated broccoli. Faulkner et al. (1998) described the use of B. villosa and other members of the B. oleracea complex as progenitors of cultivated broccoli and showed that F1 hybrids, which had high levels of glucoraphanin and enhanced ability to induce quinone reductase in cell cultures. Hybrids between commercial broccoli cultivars and three wild members of the B. oleracea complex, B. drepanensis, B. villosa, and B. atlantica, resulted to be fully fertile and backcrossed populations were developed. In F1 hybrids with B. drepanensis and B. villosa, the major glucosinolates were glucoiberin and glucoraphanin. This is similar to the profile found in broccoli, whereas in hybrids with B. atlantica, the major glucosinolates were sinigrin, gluconapin, and progoitrin (Faulkner et al. 1998). The different glucosinolate profiles in these hybrids resulted from the interaction of the genes in their respective parents. Following with the interest in developing broccoli that can deliver high levels of sulforaphane, Mithen et al. (2003) described the use of these hybrids to develop broccoli breeding lines and experimental F1 hybrids having enhanced levels of glucoiberin and glucoraphanin. Experimental hybrids were obtained through conventional breeding by the introgression of small segments of the B. villosa genome that express high glucoraphanin levels. Hence, it is feasible to develop broccoli lines with enhanced levels of glucoraphanin that may be valuable for experimental purposes in dietary intervention studies and for commercialization for specific purposes. For example, lines having a high glucoraphanin content for functional food development (cancer protection) and lines having a high sinigrin content for biological pest control (nematodes and fungal pathogens) may be produced. Sarikamis et al. (2006) described the development of ITC-enriched broccoli through the introgression of three small segments of the genome of B. villosa, each one containing a quantitative trait loci (QTL), into a commercial broccoli via markerassisted selection and analysis of glucosinolates in the florets of backcross populations. An interesting feature to point out here is that the use of wild allied plants for improving quality in vegetable crops is a difficult approach, since commercial appearance is a major trait to ensure commercial success. Thus, it is important to define the minimum number of introgressed segments (from B. villosa to commercial


broccoli) required to increase glucosinolate content sufficiently to achieve the health benefits. As a conclusion, significant qualitative variations in the glucosinolate profiles of wild B. oleracea species suggest differences in the health-promoting properties among them. Leaves and seeds of Brassica may, therefore, be used as sources of glucosinolates and isothiocyanates in the diet, especially in formulated foods. Other crucial metabolites because of their therapeutic value in Brassica crops are phenolic compounds, especially flavonoids. The main important biological effects derived from these compounds are the antioxidant activity, the capillary protective effect, and the inhibitory effects elicited in the various stages of a tumor. In many in vitro studies, phenolic compounds demonstrated to have a higher antioxidant activity than antioxidant vitamins and carotenoids (Podsedek 2007). Studies have been mainly focused on B. oleracea (Vallejo et al. 2004) and B. rapa (Fernandes et al. 2007) and very little studies have been focused on wild B. oleracea species. Only works of Aguinagalde et al. (1992) and Aguinagalde (1993) used these flavonoids as biochemical markers to study the interspecific variability among a set of wild Brassica populations and between wild and cultivated forms of B. oleracea. No differences were found between wild and cultivated B. oleracea accessions in that study; B. bourgeaui closely resembled the group formed by B. oleracea and B. montana (all lacking isorhamnetin) and a high diversity was found in B. cretica. Among the alternative uses to which species of B. oleracea complex can be devoted, it is interesting to emphasize on biofumigation. This is an agronomic technique that is an alternative to chemical fumigants in order to manage soil-borne pests and diseases in an integrated way. Rotation with Brassica crops and incorporation of Brassica residues into soil have been reported to suppress a variety of pest and disease organisms, including fungi, nematodes, insects, bacteria, and weeds (Brown and Morra 1997). Plants from Brassicaceae have been recognized as having a potential use on biofumigation practices, based on production of active volatiles released after enzyme hydrolysis. The most common volatile compounds produced during the breakdown of Brassicas are isothiocyanates. In particular, the breakdown product of sinigrin seems to protect the plant against certain pests and possibly soil pathogenic fungi and nematodes. Numerous studies have been carried out with mustard

2 Brassica

species (B. juncea, B. nigra, B. carinata) and with species within the Sinapis genus (S. alba and S. arvensis) with this aim. The major glucosinolate types in these species (allyl and p-hydroxybenzyl) have shown greater allelopathic effects compared to other glucosinolate types. Regarding the wild B. oleracea complex, Branca (2004) evaluated the possible biofumigant activity of B. macrocarpa for the control of knot-root nematodes on cherry tomato crops. In a previous study carried out by the same author (Branca et al. 2002) with Sicilian wild B. oleracea species, B. macrocarpa resulted to have the highest glucosinolate content in leaves, of which about 90% are represented by sinigrin. As a conclusion, the insertion of B. macrocarpa dry biomass into the soil permitted to reduce the attack caused by soil nematodes. Nowadays, some chemical synthetic isothiocyanates are already utilized as nematocides for controlling nematodes in several commercial fumigant products.

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2 Brassica La´zaro A, Aguinagalde I (1998) Genetic diversity in Brassica oleracea L. (Cruciferae) and wild relatives (2n¼18) using isozymes. Ann Bot 81:821–828 Leflon M, Eber F, Letanneur JC, Chelysheva L, Coriton O et al (2006) Pairing and recombination at meiosis of Brassica rapa (AA) x Brassica napus (AACC) hybrids. Theor Appl Genet 113:1467–1480 Li CW (1982) The origin, evolution, taxonomy and hybridization of Chinese cabbage. In: Talekar NS, Griggs TD (eds) Chinese cabbage. Proceedings of the 1st international AVRDC symposium, Taiwan, pp 1–10 Li G, Quiro´s CF (2003) In planta side-chain glucosinolate modification in Arabidopsis by introduction of dioxygenase Brassica homolog BoGSL-ALK. Theor Appl Genet 106:1116–1121 Linnaeus C (1753) Species plantarum II. Stockholm, Sweden, 561p Liu J, Xu X, Deng X (2005) Intergeneric somatic hybridization and its application to crop genetic improvement. Plant Cell Tiss Org Cult 82:19–44 Maggioni L, Astley D, Gustafsson M, Gass T et al (1997) Report of a working group on Brassica. In: 3rd meeting, International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, Italy, 27–29 Nov 1996 Maggioni L, von Bothmer R, Poulsen G, Branca F (2010) Origin and domestication of Cole Crops (Brassica oleracea L.): linguistic and literary. Econ Bot 86:109–123 Maluszynska J, Hasterok R (2005) Identification of individual chromosomes and parental genomes in Brassica juncea using GISH and FISH. Cytogenet Genome Res 109:310–314 McNaughton IH (1995a) Turnip and relatives. Brassica napus (Cruciferae). In: Smartt J, Simmonds NW (eds) Evolution of crop plants, Chap 17. Longman, London, pp 62–68 McNaughton IH (1995b) Swedes and rapes. Brassica napus (Cruciferae). In: Smartt J, Simmonds NW (eds) Evolution of crop plants, Chap 18. Longman, London, pp 68–75 Mithen RF (2001) Glucosinolates and their degradation products. Adv Bot Res 35:214–262 Mithen RF, Herron C (1991) Transfer of disease resistance to oilseed rape from wild Brassica species. In: McGregor DI (ed) Proceedings of the 8th GCIRC international rapeseed congress. Saskatoon, Canada, pp 244–249 Mithen RF, Magrath R (1992) Glucosinolates and resistance to Leptosphaeria maculans in wild and cultivated Brassica species. Plant Breed 101:60–68 Mithen RF, Lewis BG, Heaney RK, Fenwick GR (1987a) Glucosinolates of wild and cultivated Brassica species. Phytochemistry 26:1969–1973 Mithen RF, Lewis BG, Heaney RK, Fenwick GR (1987b) Resistance of leaves of Brassica species to Leptosphaeria maculans. Trans Br Mycol Soc 88:525–531 Mithen R, Faulkner K, Magrath R, Rose P, Williamson G, Marquez J (2003) Development of isothiocyanate enriched broccoli, and its enhanced ability to induce phase 2 detoxification enzymes in mammalian cells. Theor Appl Genet 106:727–734 Mizushima U (1950) Karyogenetic studies of species and genus hybrids in the tribe Brassiceae of Cruciferae. Tohoku J Agric Res 1:1–14 Morinaga T (1934) Interspecific hybridization in Brassica. VI. The cytology of F1 hybrids of B. juncea and B. nigra. Cytology 6:62–67

35 Namai H (1976) Cytogetic and breeding studies on transfer of economic characters by means of interspecific and intergeneric crossing in the tribe Brassiceae of Cruciferae. Mem Fac Agric Tokyo Univ Edu 22:101–171 Oost H, Brandenburg WA, Reuling GTM, Jarvis CE (1987) Lectotypification of Brassica rapa L., B. campestris L. and neotypification of B. chinensis L. (Cruciferae). Taxon 36:625–634 Padilla G, Cartea ME, Rodrı´guez VM, Orda´s A (2005) Genetic diversity in a germplasm collection of Brassica rapa subsp. rapa L. from northwestern Spain. Euphytica 145:171–180 Palaniswamy P, Bodnaryk RP (1994) A wild Brassica from Sicily provides trichome-based resistance against flea beetles. Phyllotreta cruciferae (Goeze) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Can Entomol 126:1119–1130 Palmer JD, Shields CR, Cohen DB, Orton TJ (1983) Chloroplast DNA evolution and the origin of amphiploid Brassica species. Theor Appl Genet 65:181–189 Parkin IAP, Lodiate DJ (1997) Conserved patterns of chromosome pairing and recombination of Brassica napus crosses. Genome 40:496–504 Pe´rez-Garcıá F, Gonza´lez-Benito ME, Pe´rez C, Go´mez-Campo C (1996) Effect of cryo-preservation on Brassica seeds germination. Acta Hortic 401:225–260 Pe´rez-Garcıá F, Gonza´lez-Benito ME, Go´mez-Campo C (2007) High viability recorded in ultra-dry seeds of 37 species of Brassicaceae after almost 40 years of storage. Seed Sci Tecnol 35:143–153 Pe´rez-Garcıá F, Gonza´lez-Benito ME, Go´mez-Campo C (2008) Germination of fourteen endemic species from the Iberian Peninsula, Canary and Balearic Islands after 32-34 years of storage at low temperature and very low water content. Seed Sci Technol 36:407–422 Podsedek A (2007) Natural antioxidants and antioxidant capacity of Brassica vegetables: a review. Food Sci Technol 40:1–11 Poulsen GB, Kahl G, Weising K (1994) Differential abundance of simple repetitive sequences in species of Brassica and related Brassiceae. Plant Syst Evol 190:21–30 Pradhan AK, Prakash S, Mukhopadhyay A, Pental D (1992) Phylogeny of Brassica and allied genera based on variation in chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA patterns. Molecular and taxonomic classifications are incongruous. Theor Appl Genet 85:331–340 Prakash O (1961) Food and drinks in ancient India. Munshi Ram Manohar Lal, Delhi, pp 165–168 Prakash S, Chopra VL (1990) Male sterility caused by cytoplasm of Brassica oxyrrhina in B. campestris and B. juncea. Theor Appl Genet 79:285–287 Prakash S, Hinata K (1980) Taxonomy, cytogenetics and origin of crop brassicas – a review. Oper Bot 55:1–57 Prakash S, Bhat SR, Quiro´s CF, Kirti PB, Chopra VL (2009) Brassica and its close allies: cytogenetics and evolution. Plant Breed Rev 31:21–187 Prantl K (1891) Cruciferae. In: Engler A, Prantl K (eds) Die Nat€urlichen Pflanzenfamilien. Wilhelm Englmann, Leipzig, pp 145–208 Qiu D, Muqiang G, Genyi L, Quiro´s C (2009) Comparative sequence analysis for Brassica oleracea with similar sequences in B. rapa and Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell Rep 28:649–661

36 Quiro´s CF (2001) DNA-based marker Brassica maps. In: Phillips RL, Vasil IK (eds) Advances in cellular and molecular biology of plants, vol I, DNA based marker in plants. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 201–238 Quiro´s CF, Paterson AH (2004) Genome mapping and analysis. In: Pua EC, Douglas CJ (eds) Biotechnology in agriculture and forestry, vol 54, Brassica. Springer, Berlin, pp 31–42 Quiro´s CF, Kianian SF, Ochoa O, Douches D (1985) Genome evolution in Brassica: use of molecular markers and cytogenetic stocks. Cruciferae Newsl 10:21–23 Ramsey AD, Ellis PR (1994) Resistance in wild brassicas to the cabbage whitefly, Aleyrodes proletella. In: ISHS Symposium on Brassicas, 9th crucifer genetics workshop, Lisbon, Portugal, Abstract, p 32 Renfrow MJ (1973) Palaeoethnobotany: the prehistoric food plants of the Near East and Europe. Columbia University Press, New York Sarikamis G, Marquez J, MacCormack R, Bennett RN, Roberts J, Mithen R (2006) High glucosinolate broccoli: a delivery system for sulforaphane. Mol Breed 18:219–228 Schelfhout CJ, Snowdon RJ, Cowling WA, Wroth JM (2004) A PCR based B-genome specific marker in Brassica species. Theor Appl Genet 109:917–921 Schulz OE (1919) Cruciferae–Brassicaceae. Part I: Brassicinae and Raphaninae. In: Engler A (ed) Das Pflanzenreich, vol 68–70. Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig, pp 1–290 Schulz OE (1936) Cruciferae. In: Engler A, Prantl P (eds) Die Nat€urlichen Pflanzenfamilien. Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig, pp 227–658 Slocum MK, Figdore SS, Kennard WC, Suzuki JY, Osborn TC (1990) Linkage arrangement of restriction fragment length polymorphism loci in Brassica oleracea. Theor Appl Genet 80:57–64 Smith LB, King GJ (2000) The distribution of BoCAL-a alleles in Brassica oleracea is consistent with a genetic model for curd development and domestication of the cauliflower. Mol Breed 6:603–613 Snogerup S (1980) The wild forms of the Brassica oleracea group (2n ¼ 18) and their possible relations to the cultivated ones. In: Tsunoda S, Hinata K, Gomez-Campo C (eds) Brassica crops and wild allies. Japan Scientific Societies Press, Tokyo, pp 121–132 Snowdon RJ (2007) Cytogenetics and genome analysis in Brassica crops. Chrom Res 15:85–95 Song KM, Osborn TC (1992) Polyphyletic origins of Brassica napus: new evidence based on organelle and nuclear RFLP analyses. Genome 35:992–1001 Song KM, Osborn TC, Williams PH (1988a) Brassica taxonomy based on nuclear restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPS) 1. Genome evolution of diploid and amphidiploid species. Theor Appl Genet 75:784–794 Song KM, Osborn TC, Williams PH (1988b) Brassica taxonomy based on nuclear restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPS) 2. Preliminary analysis of subspecies within B. rapa (syn. campestris) and B. oleracea. Theor Appl Genet 76:593–600 Song KM, Osborn TC, Williams PH (1990) Brassica taxonomy based on nuclear restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLPs) 3. Genome relationship in Brassica and related genera and the origin of B. oleracea and Brassica rapa (syn. campestris). Theor Appl Genet 79:497–506

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Chapter 3

Capsella Pietro P.M. Iannetta

3.1 Basic Botany of the Genus The genus name Capsella translates from Latin as “little box,” owing to the fact that all the members of this genus are characterized by their fruits that are termed silicula. This means that they are flattened, and they are also “heart shaped” (hence species of Capsella are also referred to as “mother’s heart”), with two loculi (seed chambers). This distinguishes them from the long and narrow “siliqua,” with one seed per locule characterized by other Brassicas such as B. napus (canola or oilseed rape) and Arabidopsis thaliana L. Heynh. (thalecress). Capsella is one of 338 genera that collectively account for the 3,710 species of the family Brassicaceae, and Capsella is most notable as its members may be found anywhere in the world (Stevens and Carson 2001), with the exception of the Antarctic polar region. Arguably, of the ca. 338 arable plant genera, Capsella may be the most prevalent, as it occurs at such high densities wherever it is found. Brassicaceous plants include many important crop species, many of which are grown over very large areas of farmed land throughout the world. For example, oilseed rape is cultivated for the vegetable oil that is extracted from its seeds, and is the greatest global contributor to edible seed oil yields. In addition, many others Brassicaceous species are also grown across the world at smaller scales. For example, ornamental forms of Brassica oleracea include kale (Acephala) and cabbage (Capitata). The Brassicaceae also

P.P.M. Iannetta Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, Scotland, UK e-mail: [email protected]

includes more than 120 species of wild plants, of which the genus Capsella comprises only three species that are all capable of outcrossing, though to varying degrees. The genus Arabidopsis is the most well known within academia. Given the extremely high number of Brassicaceous species, and lack of phylogenetic characterization of genera, classification generally follows the artificial (i.e., non-comparative phylogenetic based) rules of Schulz (1936). Fruit characters, and to a lesser extent flower form, are usually still relied upon for identification of genera. The delimitation of genera in the Brassicaceae is also made more difficult due to the fact that there is frequent independent evolution among similar species.

3.2 Classifying Members of the Genus While the various plant and flower parts could be described in exact botanical terms here, there are numerous excellent flora (cf. Clapham et al. 1962, 1987; Tutin et al. 1993) and internet-based resources that list full nomenclature for the Angiosperms, and the “Angiosperm Phylogeny Website” is highly recommended (Stevens 2001b; see also Broadley et al. 2004). In short, their vegetative form is (generally) a flat rosette that is laid low and flat to the ground, the leaves being subopposite, with different individuals of the group expressing a range of leaf phenotypes from simple (entire undivided) to a wide range of dissected leaf forms. Species of Capsella exhibit an annual growth habit, and can be found flowering from late spring to late autumn. Capsella may also exhibit a biannual habit, as it can develop winter frost tolerance, over-wintering in a vegetative form and flowering the following year. In particular, individuals within alpine


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populations (and probably those at higher latitudes) tend to most commonly demonstrate this shift from annual to biannual (Neuffer and Hurka 1986a) – an adaptation that may also be associated with delayed seed germination (Neuffer and Koch 1996; Baskin et al. 2004). Capsella inflorescences are racemose (form bunches) or ebracteate (lack bracts); the flower sepals are erect and the petals usually white, and most significantly, the length of the petals can be used as a means by which one member of the genus, the obligate outbreeding diploid Capsella grandiflora (Fauche and Chamb; 2n ¼ 2x ¼ 16), may be distinguished from its sister species. The genus encompasses only three real, that is reproductively active and isolated species, of which C. grandiflora is one. C. grandiflora flowers possess petals that are 4–5 mm longer than the sepals. In addition, and as the name suggests, this species can produce very large numbers of flowers, all of which possess large nectaries and a very attractive fragrance: traits often associated with an obligate outbreeding species that relies upon attracting insects to facilitate crosspollination (Fig. 3.1). This habit contrasts strongly with its two sister species, which are both highly selffertilizing and possess small nectaries. Distinguishing the two remaining breeding Capsella species is more difficult. These species are the diploid Capsella rubella (2n ¼ 2x ¼ 16), whose petals may be as long as, or scarcely extending beyond, the sepals, and the tetraploid Capsella bursa-pastoris L. Medic (2n ¼ 4x ¼ 32), commonly known as “shepherd’s purse,” whose flowers are 2–3 millimeters longer than the sepals. However, this is not a robust method by which these species may be discerned, and to further complicate the matter, C. rubella and C. bursa-pastoris are very similar phenotypically and at all life-history stages. It is also suggested that the former may be distinguished by the presence of bright red flower buds and leaf lobes (Clapham et al. 1962; hence “rubella,” which is Latin and means “little red”). However, this feature is also not robust as a means to delimit these species, and unambiguous identification can be achieved only on the basis of ploidy analysis. The nomenclature described here is based upon Shull’s systematic analysis (Shull 1909, 1914, 1918, 1929; see also Neuffer and Eschner 1995). It should be noted that many presumed “species” of Capsella have been named, and this confusion is due to the fact that individual Capsella plants may appear

P.P.M. Iannetta

Fig. 3.1 This figure shows a comparison of the flowers and flowering stems of C. grandiflora (a) and shepherds purse (b) types. The large terminal inflorescences of C. grandiflora contrast with the more open and less prominent flowers of shepherd’s purse

very different. The genus is noted for the exceptionally high levels of diversity in leaf shape (Fig. 3.2). For example, and over the course of scientific history, the genus has been divided variously into as many as 200 different species types (Jordan 1864; Hopkirk 1869; Mott 1885; Almquist 1921, 1923). Such artificial divisions of the species are usually made on the basis of the wide variety of leaf shapes found among individuals of the genus. In addition to their arrangement as a rosette, and after environmental stresses such as winter vernalization, “bolting” (early flowering) may occur, and the rosette leaves may whorl around the flowering stem. Wherever the leaves occur, as a rosette or along the flowering stem, Capsella “leaf shape” character may only be reliably attributed using leaves from ninth node (or more) to assign specific leaf class (see Iannetta et al. 2007). However, the historic focus

3 Capsella Fig. 3.2 Parts (a–g) demonstrates diversity among shepherd’s purse leaf-shape types. For example, note the differences in the shade of green of the leaves (compare d and c), individuals breed true to their leaf shade and this does not appear to be a function of chlorophyll content, or leaf nitrogen (concentration or total amount). The depth of green shown by the leaves may reflect anthocyanin pigmentation (see Fig. 3.3), or perhaps leaf ultra structure: this nature of this difference has still to be discerned. Leaf number also varies predictably among types, with earlier time to flowering forms being more likely exhibit an entire or undivided leaf shapes (compare a and d). Other differences such as in leaf 3D structure, firmness or the degree to which their leaf edges may be serrated cannot be easily demonstrated here, though these are significant. In culturing these it is clear that those types with more divided leaves are more tolerant to water deficit. It is also worth noting that each of the pots shown in this collage are 30 cm in diameter, and the plants in then grown in unlimited conditions according to the principles of Gaudet and Keddy (1988)

39

40

Fig. 3.3 The center of the rosette of a late time to flowering ecotype of shepherd’s purse. This highlights the deep purple pigmentation that is more commonly associated with later flowering types. Though this shows an extreme case, darker leaf types may not have this dark venation associated with their leaf petioles. One could speculate that the presence of such pigmentation will have some form of protective function

among leaf-shape differences among shepherd’s purse types can distract scientific attention from other phenotypic differences: such as the presence (or absence) of anthocyanin pigmentation (SPAD, Iannetta et al. 2007), which and can lead to striking differences in color depth among the different types (Fig. 3.3). Also, the degree to which the leaves exhibit leaf hairs also varies dramatically between ecotypes (Fig. 3.4) and can affect plant–insect interactions (Karley et al. 2008). It should also be noted that such intraspecific variation does not seem to have appeared simply as a function of the polyploidization that led to the evolution of shepherd’s purse. Ancestral species such as C. grandiflora also exhibit a diverse array of intraspecific phenotypic variation for leaf hairs (Fig. 3.4) and leaf shape (Fig. 3.5).

3.3 Species Distribution in Space and Time Diploid members of the genus are predominantly localized in Mediterranean regions (Lo¨ve and Lo¨ve 1956; Davis 1965; Clapham et al. 1987; Aksoy 1996; Aksoy et al. 1998, 1999), C. grandiflora occurring over only a narrow geographical range that is confined mainly to the Greek Islands and the northwest coast regions of Albania. In contrast, “true” C. rubella may be consid-

P.P.M. Iannetta

ered a plant of central Europe and the Mediterranean coasts of France, Italy, and Yugoslavia (Meikle 1977). However, C. bursa-pastoris has a global distribution, and is excluded only from extremely dry tropical environments (Almquist 1929; Shull 1929; Svensson 1983; Neuffer and Eschner 1995; Hurka and Neuffer 1997). From molecular analyses, it would appear that the variable gene pool of shepherd’s purse in Europe was introduced into the Americas, and from this, locally adapted types have arisen (Neuffer and Hurka 1986a, b, 1999). The wide geographic distribution of the tetraploid Capsella is likely to be a probable benefit of the evolutionary and adaptive advantages that are commonly associated with chromosome duplication. This species is especially abundant in disturbed ground of temperate regions, and most frequently found growing on soils of farmed fields under the frequent soil disturbance associated with arable cropping. Given its broader geographical range, shepherd’s purse has received the most research attention to date. C. rubella and C. bursa-pastoris do coexist in disturbed, semi-natural habitats, the former tending to show a later time-to-flowering and possessing leaves that are darker and more highly divided than the tetraploid form (Iannetta et al. 2007). Such differences are not a function of phenotypic plasticity but are genetically fixed attributes (Svensson 1983; Neuffer 1989; Iannetta et al. 2007). The tetraploid of the genus tends to flower earlier (within 50–90 days) than C. rubella (70–150 days). Earlier time-to-flowering forms tend to be highly fecund and produce more taller and slimmer flowering stems and with greater branching (Neuffer and Eschner 1995; Aksoy et al. 1999; Iannetta et al. 2007). Though both species may comprise individuals with a time from germination to flowering of up to 200 days, if subject to autumn cold (vernalization), late and early time-to-flowering ecotypes may flower and set seeds within a very short time frame of approximately 30 days. Ecotypes of the tetraploid and diploid forms, therefore, also reproduce within the same temporal space, especially in central European regions (Steinmayer et al. 1985; Neuffer 1989). These species may be considered reproductively isolated, as they are very self-fertile, and therefore, highly inbred (Shull 1929). Rare triploid interspecific hybrids may be found, which are known as Capsella gracilis, which are sterile due to the abortion of their seed pods (Keble-Martin 1991). They are found most commonly where a large number of C. rubella and

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Fig. 3.4 Capsella bursapastoris demonstrates many different leaf shape types, and individuals breed true to their leaf shape form (and relative leaf number) (unpublished data). Leaf shape can only be reliably attributed using leaves from ninth node (or more) and care should be exercised to ensure that it is those leaves that are used to assign a specific leaf class. (a) shows two extreme leaf types within the tetraploid shepherd’s purse. Such within species heterogeneity is thought to have evolved as a consequence of genome restructuring as a function of tetraploidy. However there is evidence that out breeding ancestral species also exhibit high intraspecific phenotypic diversity. (b) and (c) show the normal characteristic used to distinguish Capsella grandiflora (c), from other Capsella species (rubella and bursa-pastoris (b)), which is flower petal length. This difference aside, these species appear very similar, and individuals within each exhibit broad intraspecific differences. For example, C. grandiflora may also possess leaves that have; (e) only a low density of leaf hairs; or (g) a high density of leaf hairs. Similar leaf hair density differences are shown for shepherd’s purse (d and f)

C. bursa-pastoris flower together within dense stands in localized in situ environments that are densely populated (e.g., arable fields), or artificial environments such as experimental glasshouses. While C. rubella has been recorded in the UK (Aksoy et al. 1998), a field survey found no definitive evidence of the coexistence of C. rubella and C. bursa-pastoris in arable fields of the British mainland (Iannetta et al. 2007).

3.4 Evolutionary Origins and Diversity Until recently, there was doubt about the evolutionary origins of C. bursa-pastoris, as it shares biochemical (aspartate aminotransferase) isoenzymes (Hurka et al. 1989) and plastidic L-glutamate dehydrogenase (Hurka and During 1994) similarities with C. grandiflora, but is reproductively and phenotypically more similar to

42

Fig. 3.5 Parts (a) and (b), show two C.grandiflora individuals which possess different leaf shapes. Again shown in 30 cm diameter pots, these types are as a large as shepherd’s purse, and also exhibit different flowering times too. A characteristic attribute of C. grandiflora, is shown in (b), by the prominent tight ball-like arrangement of flowers on the terminal inflorescence (see Fig. 3.1)

C. rubella. However, and in contrast to the apparently high levels of intraspecific diversity, it has been suggested that the tetraploid shepherd’s purse evolved only recently in plant evolutionary terms: after the last glaciations in Eurasia ca. 17,000 years ago (Slotte et al. 2006), as an introgressed hybrid of C. rubella (Slotte et al. 2007, 2008). The very high levels of intraspecific phenotypic and genetic diversity and colonization success for this species contrast with chloroplast-genome evidence suggesting that the species’ molecular diversity is limited and the effective population size is small (32.1% on an average was recorded, with maximum being 42.03%. This study emphasized that U.S. safflower collection can be used as a source for Alternaria resistance and high oil content for breeding purposes (Cervantes-Martinez et al. 2001). Considerable diversity was found in 23 accessions of safflower in Spain for morphological, physiological, and chemical characters (Pascual-Villalobos and Alburquerque 1996). A core collection is intended to contain, with minimum repetitiveness, the genetic diversity of a crop species and its wild relatives. Brown (1989) suggested that a core collection should contain 5–10% of the germplasm collection and that this size should retain over 75% of the variability in the whole collection. Such manageable collection with high diversity would provide the starting material for breeders in search of new and novel variation for genetic improvement and related biotechnological programs (Sehgal and Raina 2008). A core collection of 207 accessions was identified in the U Safflower germplasm collection based on country of origin and morphological traits like branching pattern, flower color, flowering time, growth habit, head diameter, plant height, iodine number, lysine content, and oil content (Johnson et al. 1993). The core collection in effect was evaluated for seven quantitative characters, which indicated considerable diversity within the core collection. Correlation analysis showed the strongest association between plant height and flowering, followed by association between

D. Sehgal and S. Nath Raina

outer involucral bract (OIB) width and OIB length. The evaluation of accessions on the basis of the country of origin revealed that accessions from Southwest Asia were very different from those of other regions and there were significant differences among the regions for all traits evaluated except OIB length and yield per plant. Further studies revealed that this core subset captured a large fraction of the diversity in oil and meal characteristics (Johnson et al. 1999). Suresh and Balakrishnan (2001) and Balakrishnan and Suresh (2000, 2001a, b) proposed several strategies and sampling methods to develop core collection using geographical origins and 28 descriptors on 3,250 safflower accessions from 32 countries. A core subset of 570 accessions was identified from 5,522 safflower accessions based on geographical distribution and 12 morphological descriptors having high heritability and are least influenced by genotype environment interaction (Dwivedi et al. 2005). South Asia and Southeast Asia together accounted for 79.8% (4,406 accessions) of the accessions in the entire collection of 5,522 accessions and this predominance in number was also reflected in the core subset that contained 77.7% (443 accessions) of the accessions from these regions. About 7.2% (41) of the accessions in the core subset were from the Americas, 4% (23) from the Mediterranean, and 3% each from European (17) and West Asian (17) regions. Australia, the former USSR, and Africa represented 1.2%, 1.4%, and 1.8% accessions, respectively, in the core subset. Differences among means of the entire collection and core subset for the 12 morphological descriptors used in developing the core subset were not significant and the variance of the entire collection and core subset were homogeneous for all the traits except for growth habit (P ¼ 0.024). The core subset captured 100% range variation for 11 morphological descriptors and 80% for shape of upper stem leaves.

4.10.2 Genetic Diversity Based on Molecular Markers Molecular marker approach has advanced our understanding of the genetic resources more than any other approach. However, the use of molecular techniques for genetic variation analysis in safflower is a recent event. Like in most other crops, isozymes were the

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first markers to be used for studying genetic variation in safflower germplasm resources. Using isozymes, Bassiri (1977) identified nine introduced and five local cultivars of C. tinctorius, and seven ecotypes of C. oxyacantha. Two isozymes, acid phosphatase and cathodal peroxidase, together identified all the 21 cultivars and ecotypes. Efron et al. (1973) studied alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) allozyme pattern in the seeds of 1,553 accessions from the world collection of safflower (C. tinctorius) and 36 collections of 14 wild species. Two genes Adh1 and Adh2 were identified. Adh1 and Adh2 loci control the anodal and cathodal bands, respectively. The codominant alleles Adhs1 and Adh f1, specifying allozymes with different migration rates in the anodal zone, were found in cultivated safflower. The frequency of Adhf1 allele was very low. The safflower collection was found to be more or less uniform. A third allele AdhT1 was present only in the polyploids. The authors concluded, based on ADH genotypes (Table 4.4) of the diploids and polyploids, that C. lanatus is the common progenitor of both polyploid species. Isozyme markers were also used to identify hybrid individuals in safflower populations (Carapetian and Estilai 1997) and to study divergence in 89 accessions that originated from 17 countries (Zhang 2001). The latter study revealed that

materials from East Asia had the maximum estimates for both mean allele frequency and mean gene diversity. The accessions of unknown origin showed resemblance to those from India, Turkey, and the Middle East (Zhang 2001). RAPD markers were used by Yazdi-Samadi et al. (2001k.) to detect variation in 28 safflower accessions that included Iranian landraces and several wild and exotic genotypes as well. The clusters based on RAPD markers correlated fairly well with a classification scheme based on morphological traits. RAPD, intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR), and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers were used to fingerprint safflower cultivars released by AICORPO (Sehgal and Raina 2005). These cultivars cover 90% of the total acreage of cultivation in various agro-climatic regions of India (Table 4.5). Out of the three marker systems employed, AFLP proved to be better than both RAPD and ISSR markers. Figure 4.4 represents RAPD and ISSR profiles of the safflower cultivars. Two AFLP primer combinations vis-a`-vis 36 RAPD and 21 SSR primers could effectively fingerprint the 14 cultivars. The most important finding of this study was the identification of cultivar-specific markers. Eight RAPD (OPA08, OPA02, OPA01, OPK07, OPC08, OPI14, OPC04, and OPA17), four

Table 4.4 ADH genotypes of Carthamus speciesa Species ADH genotype n ¼ 10 C. alexandrinus Adh1s/ Adh1s C. anatolicus Adh1s/ Adh1s C. dentatus Adh1s/ Adh1s C. glaucus Adh1s/ Adh1s C. leucocaulos Adh1s/ Adh1s C. tenuis Adh1s/ Adh1s n ¼ 11 C. divaricatus Adh1s/ Adh1s n ¼ 12 C. flavescens Adh1s/ Adh1s C. nitidus Adh1s/ Adh1s C. oxyacantha Adh1s/ Adh1s C. palaestinus Adh1s/ Adh1s C. tinctorius Adh1s/ Adh1s n ¼ 22 C. lanatus Adh1s/ Adh1s; Adh1T/ Adh1T n ¼ 32 C. baeticus Adh1s/ Adh1s; Adh1s/ Adh1s; Adh1T/ Adh1T C. turkestanicus Adh1s/ Adh1s; Adh1s/ Adh1s; Adh1T/ Adh1T a

Efron et al. (1973)

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Table 4.5 Safflower cultivars of Indian origin fingerprinted by DNA markersa Cultivar Pedigree Research centerb A-1 Hybridisation (Pedigree method) Annigeri (A-482-1 A-300) Bhima Selection from A-300 Jalgaon Girna Hybridization (Pedigree method) Jalgaon (A-1 G 1254) JSF-1 Selection from IC 11839 Indore Sharda Selection from No. 168 Latur HUS-305 Selection from germplasm Varanasi S-144 Pure line selection from local variety Raichur Nira Hybridization (Pedigree method) Phaltan (NS 1572 EC 32012) CO-1 Selection from PI 250528 Coimbatore APRR-3 Selection from EC 27250 Hyderabad Nari-6 Hybridization (Pedigree method) Phaltan (CO-1 JL-8) Manjira Pure line selection from SF-65 Hyderabad JSI-7 Selection from JSF 1909 Indore Nari-2 Selection from HUS-296-3 Phaltan a

Remarks Suitable under scanty and assured moisture regions Moderate wilt tolerant Suitable for early and late sowings Salt and wilt tolerant Suitable for dry areas For irrigated conditions Non-spiny Rust resistant Non-spiny Medium statured Non-spiny Non-spiny

Sehgal and Raina (2005) The Research center where the cultivar was bred

b

SSR (UBC 880, UBC 842, UBC 895, and UBC 872) primers, and one AFLP primer combinations (EACG + MCAG) generated 14, 5, and 5 diagnostic markers, respectively, for 11 out of 14 cultivars. The maximum number of diagnostic markers was obtained for Nari-2 followed by HUS-305, Bhima, and JSI-7. These markers could be of potential use for detecting mixtures and duplicates in the germplasm. RAPD, ISSR, and AFLP markers were also used to assess (1) the genetic diversity of 85 accessions (originating from 24 countries of five continents, viz. Asia, Europe, Africa, America, and Oceania) obtained from USDA and representing global germplasm variability of safflower, and (2) the interrelationships among safflower “centers of similarity” or “regional genepools” (Sehgal et al. 2008d). This study also revealed the relative superiority of the AFLP marker system vis-a`-vis RAPD and ISSR markers in uncovering variation in safflower. Figure 4.5 represents AFLP profile of safflower accessions. AFLP markers could effectively demarcate most of the known morphological-trait-based centers of similarity/regional genepools (Ashri 1973, 1975; Ashri et al. 1974, 1975). The “regional genepools” that were convincingly supported by the AFLP data were India– Pakistan, Europe, Far East, Turkey–Israel–Iraq–Jordan (Middle East), Egypt, and Iran–Afghanistan (Fig. 4.6). The grouping

of accessions from Iran and Afghanistan separately from accessions of other Middle East countries supported the views of Ashri (1973, 1975) and Ashri et al. (1974, 1975) that Iran–Afghanistan should be considered as a separate genepool. The trivial genetic differences obtained between accessions from Turkey, Israel, Iraq, and Jordan supported the views of Zhang (2001) that Turkey should be treated as part of the Middle East genepool. Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sudan were not supported in this study as separate genepools. The accessions from Ethiopia were part of the Middle East group, while accessions from Sudan and Kenya were distributed in the dendrogram. These results suggested that safflower germplasm should be reclassified into six genepools; India–Pakistan, Europe, Far East, Turkey–Israel–Iraq–Jordan, Egypt, and Iran–Afghanistan, which is more congruent with classification. The variation between and within the regional genepools was calculated by Shannon’s index and analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA). Shannon’s diversity for the species (Hsp) was 12.38 and the proportion of diversity within (Hw/n) and between (Hb/w) regional genepools was 0.45 and 0.55, respectively. Estimates of genetic diversity with Shannon’s index (Hpop), proportion of polymorphic genes, and mean genetic similarity revealed that diversity was highest in Iran– Afghanistan, which was equivalent to the total diversity

79 A1 Bh im a Gi rna JS F-1 Sh ard HU a S3 Nir 05 a S14 4 CO -1 AP RR -3 Na ri-6 Ma nji r JS a I-7 Na ri-2

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a 1.9

0.6

b 2.1

0.9

c 0.8

0.5

Fig. 4.4 Gel electrophoresis of amplification products obtained with RAPD primers OPC04 (a), OPI04 (b), and the ISSR primer UBC 881 (c) in safflower cultivars. The size of fragments in kilobases is indicated on the left (Sehgal and Raina 2005)

of the species. The least diversity was noticed in the Far East (Table 4.6) genepool. This information is important from practical applications standpoint. Both RAPD and agro-morphological traits were used to assess the genetic diversity in safflower (Amini et al. 2008). Sixteen selected lines derived from landraces growing in various agro-climatic regions of Iran along with four exotic genotypes were evaluated for days to emergence, days to initial flowering, days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height, branches per plant, capitula per plant, seeds per capitulum, 1,000-seed weight, seed yield per plant, seed yield, and reaction to powdery mildew (Leveillula taurica Arnaud). The results indicated significant differences among genotypes for the agro-morphological

traits. A relatively high range of genetic variation was observed for days to 50% emergence, seeds per capitulum, seed yield, and seed yield per plant. Number of branches and capitula per plant, seeds per capitulum, and 1,000-seed weight showed relatively high broadsense heritabilities, which indicated that selection can be effectively employed for improvement of these yield components. Analysis of the RAPD markers revealed the highest genetic similarity between the cultivars “AC Sunset” and “AC Sterling” from Canada. The lowest relatedness was observed between a local breeding line “E2428” and genotype “GE62923” from Germany. Comparing the clusters based on agro-morphological traits with those from RAPD data showed little similarities.

i

Moracco Armenia Japan

USA

China Jordan Algeria Canada

Spain

Afghanistan

Ethiopia

Pakistan

Iraq

Romania

Former Soviet Union

India

France

Portugal

Australia

Turkey

Egypt

Israel

Iran

Kenya


Sudan

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51

Fig. 4.5 AFLP profile of 51 C. tinctorius accessions (lanes 1–51) with primer combination E–CCA/M–CCA (Sehgal et al. 2008d)

Similarly, AFLP markers and phenotypic characters were used for assessment of genetic diversity in 96 safflower accessions representing seven regions (the Americas, China, East Africa, East Europe, the Mediterranean, South central Asia, and Southwest Asia) and to determine the association between phenotypic traits and AFLP marker data (Johnson et al. 2007). The within-region comparisons showed that the accessions from the Americas were more diverse than from other regions. This could be attributed to the wide range of genetic material used in the U.S. breeding programs and the selection of progeny with a wide range of agronomical traits including hull characteristics, disease resistance, meal attributes, and so on. The accessions in the other regions were predominantly the landraces used by local people without the introduction of exotic germplasm. The correlation of the distance matrices based on AFLP data with average

Euclidian distance matrices based on phenotypic factors was the strongest within China, accounting for 39% of the variation. In most cases, the correlations within regions were either weak or not significant, which suggested that marker data in safflower should be balanced with phenotypic traits in order to obtain a complete picture of overall diversity. In another study, AFLP markers proved useful for discrimination of 28 safflower populations in China (Zhang et al. 2006). ISSR markers used to study genetic variation in safflower accessions from 32 different countries unveiled a high level of polymorphism (Yang et al. 2007). This study revealed higher genetic variation in the accessions from India and the Middle East as compared to other regions. Genetic diversity of 23 populations of C. tinctorius and two populations of related wild species C. lanatus in China was investigated using sequence-related amplified

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81 SI S2 I2 K1 IR5 I6 I1 I4 PAK1 PAK4 EG1 R2 F2 F1 ALG POI SPI PO3 SP2 MOR1 ARM R1 CH1 CH3 JAP ISI TR3 IQ1 IQ2 IS1 TR1 JOR ETH1 ETH2 TR1 S3 ALSS US1 AUS1 CAN EG2 EG3 K3 US2 IR1 IR4 PSU1 PSU2 ARG1 ARG5 IR2

0.55

0.66

0.76

0.87

Subcluster 1 (India-Pakistan)

Cluster 1 Subcluster 2 (Europe)

Subcluster 3 (Far East)

Cluster 2 (Turkey, Israe -Iraq-Jordan / (Middle East)

Cluster 3 (Egypt)

(Iran-Afghanistan)

Cluster 4

0.98

Fig. 4.6 UPGMA phenogram of C. tinctorius accessions based on AFLP marker data: (open square) Sudan; (open triangle) Europe; ( filled diamond) Far East; (filled square) India– Pakistan; ( filled circle) Egypt; (open circle) Kenya; (filled tri-

angle) Iran–Afghanistan; (filled star) Turkey–Israel–Iraq– Jordan; (dotted) Ethiopia; US United States; AUS Australia; MOR Morocco; FSU Former Soviet Union; CAN Canada; ALG Algeria (Sehgal et al. 2008d)

polymorphism (SRAP) markers (Peng et al. 2008). This marker analysis distinguished populations of C. tinctorius from C. lanatus. Five species-specific bands were identified for C. lanatus. ISSR markers revealed distinct genetic groups within the C. lanatus population from New South Wales (Ash et al. 2003). The analysis indicated that there are two distinct groups of C. lanatus that correlated with location (northern and southern regions). The Shannon’s diversity index indicated higher variation in the southern group (0.33) than in the northern group (0.22).

4.11 Physical Mapping of Sequences Knowledge of the physical localization of coding and repetitive DNA sequences on chromosome arms is becoming increasingly important because of the need to link genetic and physical maps (Raina and Mukai 1999; Raina et al. 2001; Sharma and Raina 2005), to transfer known chromosome segments carrying useful genes between species, and to follow and identify chromosomal regions consequent upon hybridization and backcrossing breeding program (Biagetti et al. 1999). Repetitive DNA sequence localization, in

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Table 4.6 Proportion of polymorphic genes, Shannon’s diversity (Hpop) and mean genetic similarities values for ten regional gene poolsa Regional gene pool Proportion of polymorphic genes Hpop Mean genetic similarity Far East 0.07 2.22 0.96 India–Pakistan 0.16 4.64 0.89 Iran–Afghanistan 0.46 11.76 0.69 Turkey 0.15 4.91 0.83 Israel–Iraq–Jordan 0.27 7.45 0.80 Egypt 0.18 5.67 0.81 Sudan 0.19 5.92 0.84 Ethiopia 0.10 3.37 0.92 Europe 0.23 6.05 0.86 Kenya 0.11 3.91 0.84 a

Sehgal et al. (2008d)

particular, can support the unequivocal identification of plant chromosomes (Castilho and Heslop-Harrison 1995; Cuadrado and Jouve 1997; Cuadrado and Schwarzacher 1998; Raina and Mukai 1999; Raina et al. 2001), which otherwise cannot be identified by simple morphological features alone (Fuchs and Schubert 1998; Raina and Mukai 1999; Galasso et al. 2001). The tandemly arranged repetitive DNA elements also provide information on the large-scale organization and evolution of plant genomes (Pich et al. 1996; Vershinin et al. 2001; Badaeva et al. 2002; Sharma and Raina 2005). Two repetitive DNA sequences, pCtKpn1 and pCtKpn2, were isolated from C. tinctorius and cloned (Raina et al. 2005). Both are tandemly repeated sequences. The pCtKpnI-1 and pCtKpnI-2 clones constitute repeat units of 343–345 bp and 367 bp, respectively, with 63% sequence heterogeneity between the two. The physical location of these two repeated sequences was studied by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The pCtKpnI-1 sequence was found to be exclusively localized at subtelomeric regions on most of the chromosomes. On the other hand, sequence of the pCtKpnI-2 clone was distributed on two nucleolar and one non-nucleolar chromosome pairs (Fig. 4.7). The satellite and the intervening chromosome segments between the primary and secondary constrictions in the two nucleolar chromosome pairs were almost wholly constituted by pCtKpnI-2 repeated sequence. The pCtKpnI-2 repeated sequence, showing partial homology to intergenic spacer (IGS) of 18S–25S ribosomal RNA genes of an Asteraceae taxon (Centaurea stoebe), and the 18S–25S rRNA gene clusters were located at independent but juxtaposed

sites in the nucleolar chromosomes (Fig. 4.7). Variability in the number, size, and location of the two repeated sequences has made possible the identification of most of the chromosomes in the otherwise not too distinctive homologues within the complement in C. tinctorius.

4.12 Breeding Objectives and Achievements 4.12.1 Disease Resistance Patil et al. (1993) have reported that safflower is infested by 57 pathogens around the world, including 40 fungi, two bacteria, 14 viruses, and one mycoplasma. Of these, Alternaria leaf spot caused by Alternaria carthami and wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum are the most devastating and can cause from 13 to 49% losses. The outbreak of Alternaria may sometimes wipe out the entire crop in the region under conditions conducive to its spread as happened in India in 1997–1998, when the entire crop of safflower in the major safflower growing states of Maharashtra and Karnataka was lost (Anon 1997–1998). Disease resistance, therefore, has been a major objective in safflower breeding programs. Safflower germplasm resources in USDA is a valuable source of genotypes resistant to rust, Fusarium wilt, Verticillium wilt, Alternaria leaf blight, and Phytophthora root rot (Urie and Knowles 1972; Da Via et al. 1981; Klisiewicz and Urie 1982). Ashri (1973) and Karve (1979) identified germplasm with tolerance or resistance to major diseases and insects in Israel and

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b

a

pCtKpnl-1

pCtKpnl-2 45S rDNA 45S rDNA pCtKpnl-2

pCtKpnl-2 45S rDNA pCtKpnl-1

45S rDNA

pCtKpnl-2

c

I

XII

Fig. 4.7 Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of C. tinctorius (2n ¼ 24) metaphase chromosomes with pCtKpnI-1 (red fluorescence) and pCtKpnI-2 (green fluorescence) probes (a). Metaphase chromosomes after FISH with pCtKpnI-1, pCtKpnI2, and 18S–26S rDNA (yellowish green fluorescence) probes

(b). The chromosomes were counterstained with DAPI (40 6diamidino-2-phenylindole). Karyograms of metaphase chromosomes after DAPI staining (upper row) and FISH with pCtKpnI-1 and pCtKpnI-2 repeats (lower row) (c) (Raina et al. 2005)

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India, respectively. Moreover, cultivars have been bred with resistance to wilt caused by both Fusarium oxysporum, F. carthami and Verticillium albo-atrum and to rust caused by Puccinia carthami (Singh et al. 2003a, b). Breeding for wilt resistance in safflower following backcross breeding resulted in the development of wilt-resistant genotypes giving an increase in seed yield by 31% (Singh et al. 2003a, b). Breeding safflower varieties for resistance to multiple diseases resulted in the development of germplasm line VFR-1. This line was derived from the breeding line Nebraska 4051, and it showed resistance to Verticillium wilt, Fusarium wilt and root rot, and Rhizoctonia root rot (Thomas 1971). The Australian safflower cultivar Sironaria, showing resistance to Alternaria blight and moderate resistance to Phytophthora root rot, has been developed by backcross breeding (Harrigan 1987, 1989). Safflower cultivars resistant to Alternaria blight (Sidwill, Hartman, Oker, Girard, and Finch) have been successfully developed in the United States (Bergman and Riveland 1983; Bergman et al. 1985, 1987, 1989a, b). Wild species closely related to crop plants have played an important role in raising the economic value of cultivated crop species by providing genes for various biotic and abiotic stresses, yield and yield components, as well as physiological attributes (Jena and Khush 1990; Jauhar 2006). Among the wild species, the taxon that shares common ancestry with the cultivated species is a preferable choice, as it will facilitate genetic exchange through homoeologous pairing, and thus could serve as a useful germplasm for successful breeding of improved varieties. Several wild species of Carthamus have successfully been used as a source of disease and pest resistance in safflower breeding programs (Table 4.7). Among these, C. oxyacantha, C. palaestinus, and C. flavescens are most promising. C. oxyacantha has useful genes for profuse branching, a large number of capitula, and resistance to many diseases and moisture


stress (Table 4.7; Deshpande 1952; Ashri 1973; Karve 1976; Kumar et al. 1990). Introgression of desirable genes from C. oxyacantha into C. tinctorius showed an increased seed yield ranging from 2.3 to 44% in cultivar HUS 305 with an improved level of tolerance to Alternaria leaf blight and moisture stress (Singh 1994). Heaton and Klisiewicz (1981) synthesized a disease-resistant alloploid through chromosome doubling of C. tinctorius (2n ¼ 24) C. lanatus (2n ¼ 44). The alloploid was highly resistant to Alternaria carthami, Pseudomonas syringae, and F. oxysporum f. sp. carthami. To make safflower much more competitive than sunflower and soybean in cooking oil production, there is still a need to develop cultivars with greater resistance to foliar diseases caused by Alternaria spp., Puccinia, Botrytis cinerea, and P. syringae. This would also facilitate establishment of the crop in more humid areas.

4.12.2 Oil Content and Quality The primary objective of safflower breeding program has been the development of cultivars with high oil content. Cultivars, HUS-305, NARI-6, and the non-spiny hybrid NARI-NH-1 released for commercial production in India contain ~35% oil (Singh and Nimbkar 2007) vis-a`-vis 28–35% in other cultivars. Significant improvement in oil content of safflower seed has been achieved in the cultivars developed in the United States (Bergman et al. 1985; Rubis 2001). Safflower cultivar Oker contains 45% oil (Bergman et al. 1985). A safflower line having oil content as high as 55% has been reported by Rubis (2001). Vegetable oils with high concentration of saturated fatty acids have important applications in the food industry, especially for the production of shortenings, margarines, and spreads. Conventional safflower oil contains 60–80 g kg1 palmitic acid, 20–30 g kg1

Table 4.7 Carthamus species with resistance to various diseases and pests Species Resistance Fungi C. oxyacantha Leaf blight, rust, Ramularia leaf spot, powdery mildew C. flavescens Ramularia leaf spot C. palaestinus – C. lanatus Leaf blight, rust, Ramularia leaf spot, powdery mildew C. baeticus Rust, powdery mildew, Ramularia leaf spot

Insects – Safflower fly Safflower fly Euribia fly Euribia fly

4 Carthamus

stearic acid, 160–200 g kg1 oleic acid, and 710–750 g kg1 linoleic acid (Knowles 1989). Breeding for modified fatty acid composition of the safflower oil by a few major genes has been a major breakthrough. The allele (ol) has been bred into cultivars in United States, which led to two types of cultivars: high linoleic (polyunsaturated, 71–75% linoleic acid, 16–20% oleic acid) and high oleic (monounsaturated, 14–18% linoleic acid, 75–80% oleic acid) types (Knowles 1989). Ladd and Knowles (1970) increased stearic acid levels (50–120 g kg1) in several germplasm accessions. Velasco and Fernandez-Martinez (2001) reported the development of lines with modified fatty acid composition having high palmitic acid content (10.3% of the total fatty acids), medium or high stearic acid content (3.9 and 6.2%), and high or very high oleic acid content (>78 and 86%), together with reduced levels of the saturated fatty acids palmitic and stearic acid (86%). Recently, lines with increased palmitic acid (CR-50; 98.2 7.9 g kg1 vs. 64.0 3.4 g kg1 in the check) and stearic acid (CR-13; 92.8 9.2 g kg1 vs. 22.2 3.4 g kg1) have been developed (Hamdan et al. 2008).

4.12.3 Spineless Cultivars In areas where hand harvesting of the capitula containing seeds is practiced, the spine on the plant is a major bottleneck. Spineless cultivars CO-1 and JSI-7 have been developed in India but their poor yield vis-a`-vis the spiny cultivars hinders their wide cultivation. Recently, the non-spiny cultivar NARI-6 and nonspiny hybrid NARI-NH-1 (Singh et al. 2003a) have been released. Their yield is comparable to the spiny cultivars, and in addition, they have better tolerance to foliar and wilt diseases than the spiny ones.

4.13 Construction of Genetic Linkage Maps Genetic linkage maps for C. tinctorius and its wild relative C. oxyacantha have recently been constructed using SSR and RFLP markers (Mayerhofer et al. 2010). An F2 population of 138 progenies derived

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from a cross of the safflower cultivars Centennial NP-12 and a backcross (BC1) population of 120 progeny derived from C. oxyacanthus Centennial were used to generate the two maps, respectively. The segregation of a total of 116 and 166 loci was scored in the C. tinctorius F2 and C. oxyacanthus BC1 populations, respectively. Using a limit of detection (LOD) threshold of 3.0 and a maximum recombination frequency of 0.3, the loci coalesced into 13 linkage groups for each of the C. tinctorius and C. oxyacanthus maps. However, some of the linkage groups consisted of only two linked markers, which might be due to the paucity of polymorphism and mappable loci in the two populations. The linkage groups ranged in genetic length from 1.3 to 170 cM and comprised 2 to 27 loci. The length of linkage maps in C. tinctorius and C. oxyacanthus was 954 and 580 cM, respectively. The two maps showed significant colinearity of markers in several regions and an apparent translocation or inversion event on one linkage group (T5 and O5; Fig. 4.8). No apparent clustering was observed in C. tinctorius map as compared to C. oxyacanthus map where dense clusters were present on O4b and O7, with 12 and 7 markers cosegregating, respectively. Another interspecific (C. tinctorius C. palaestinus) linkage map is developed (Ravikumar et al. 2008) in safflower utilizing SSR markers from chickpea, sorghum, and sunflower. However, only nine SSR markers have been mapped on three linkage groups that spanned a total length of 124.6 cM.

4.14 Scope of Transcript Genetic Maps or Functional Maps A large amount of expressed sequence tag (EST) data has been generated in safflower, and 40,996 sequences are currently available in the public domain (http:// plantta.jcvi.org/cgi-bin/plantta_release.pl; accessed July 2007). From these, 18,067 EST singletons have been identified. The utilization of these loci into genetic maps would generate a transcript map/gene map and/ or functional map. To achieve this, ESTs can be converted into an effective marker assay. These could be in the form of RFLP, STS, CAPS, SSR, or single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). For instance, a given EST can be amplified from genomic DNA and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) product obtained

Fig. 4.8 Genetic linkage maps of C. tinctorius and C. oxyacanthus. Linkage groups T1-T11 and O1-O11 are derived from C. tinctorius and C. oxyacanthus, respectively. Genetic distances are given centiMorgans (cM) on the left. Markers in bold share

identical loci in both maps and are connected by dotted lines. Asterisks depict markers with different degrees of segregation distortion (Mayerhofer et al. 2010)

86 D. Sehgal and S. Nath Raina

4 Carthamus

87

a

b 0.0

OPM1>800

6.8

OPL18770

10.1 12.3

OPA10PH7300 OPH8670

26.5

Li

38.4

Ms

42.0

OPH2750

0.0

IASCA35

8.9

IASCA45

11.5 13.4

IASCA42 IASCA39

29.1

Li

40.8

Ms

44.5

IASCA37

Fig. 4.9 Linkage maps containing the Li gene for very high linoleic acid content and the Ms gene for nuclear male sterility. Linkage map for RAPD marker loci, Li and Ms (a). Linkage

map for SCAR marker loci, Li and Ms (b). The cumulative distances in centiMorgans (Kosambi) are shown at the left of the map (Hamdan et al. 2008)

can be used as an RFLP probe in a Southern hybridization or it can be tested directly for length or sequence polymorphism between the parents of a mapping population. Sequence variation between homologous PCR products can be detected directly by sequencing (EST-SNP), indirectly by digestion with restriction enzymes (CAPS). ESTs can also be searched for SSRs utilizing free available software such as SSRIT (SSR Identification tool; http://www. gramene.org/db/searches/ssrtool), MISA (MIcroSAte litte; http://pgrc.ipk-gatersleben.de/misa) and primers can be designed to amplify EST-SSRs. An important feature of EST-SSR markers is their applicability across species (Varshney et al. 2005; Asp et al. 2007; Heesacker et al. 2008; Sehgal et al. 2008a), which makes them valuable for comparative mapping.

developed for the closely linked genes Li, controlling very high linoleic acid content, and Ms, controlling nuclear male sterility (NMS) (Hamdan et al. 2008). For developing these markers, a mapping population of 162 individuals was developed from the nuclear male sterile line (NMS) CL1 (64–79% linoleic acid) and the line CR-142 (84–90%), and phenotyped in the F2 and F3 generations. A linkage map including the five SCAR markers and the Li and Ms genes was constructed (Fig. 4.9). SCAR markers flanked both the loci at minimum distances of 15.7 cM from the Li locus and 3.7 cM from the Ms locus. These are is the first molecular markers developed for trait selection in safflower, and it will be useful for MAS programs aimed at introgressing Li and Ms alleles into elite safflower cultivars.

4.15 Molecular Markers for MarkerAssisted Selection

4.16 Concluding Remarks

Very little work on marker-assisted selection (MAS) has been carried out in safflower. Sequence-characterized amplified region (SCAR) markers have been

Insights into the origin of crop plants and knowledge of the identities of their progenitors are of great value in both basic and applied research programs. For instance, the comparative analysis of crop plants and

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their wild progenitors can shed light on the genetic mechanisms underlying organismal evolution (Doebley and Stec 1991; Matsuoka 2005). Comparative analyses of this sort can also be a powerful tool for identifying genes underlying agronomically important traits (Doebley et al. 1997; Frary et al. 2000; Li et al. 2006; Jauhar 2006). The explicit identification (Sehgal et al. 2008c) of C. palaestinus and C. oxyacantha as maternal progenitors of safflower’s botanical varieties C. tinctorius var. innermis and C. tinctorius var. tinctorius, respectively, has opened the door for improvement for safflower. The precise cataloging of world germplasm resources of safflower (Johnson et al. 2007; Sehgal et al. 2008d) including cultivars (Sehgal and Raina 2005) by molecular DNA markers have opened up new vistas for marker-assisted improvement and related genomic analysis of this important crop plant. With the structuring of genetic diversity using AFLP fingerprints, it is now possible to clarify the genetic framework of morphological traits based “centers of similarity” or “regional genepools” reported in safflower. AFLP markers and morphological descriptors can now be used as coherent tools for the development of core collection(s) in safflower. Further, comparison of DNA sequences including RAPD, ISSR, AFLP, ITS and ETS sequences, chloroplast and single copy nuclear gene sequences, and repetitive element families have and will continue to provide a better understanding of genomic relationships within and between, the cultivated species C. tinctorius and the wild species (Sehgal et al. 2008a, b; Sehgal and Raina 2005 ; Raina et al. 2005; Vilatersana et al. 2005, 2007; Chapman and Burke 2007; Sasanuma et al. 2008). In addition, the identification of novel repeated DNA sequences in safflower (Raina et al. 2005) will be of particular utility in the study of phylogenetic and evolutionary pathways not only in Carthamus taxa but also in the family Asteraceae. From a practical application standpoint, such tools and information facilitate identifying and manipulating homologous genes or alleles in related wild species or homoeologous loci within polyploid taxa for trait improvement. Breeding efforts over the past five decades have contributed tremendously to the genetic improvement of safflower in terms of releasing disease-resistant and high oil yielding and spineless cultivars. However, traditional approaches to crop improvement have


several limitations. To enhance productivity and quality and to develop resistance to the constraints such as drought, diseases, and insect pests, much more needs to be done. Molecular tools like linkage mapping, identification, characterization, and expression of genes as well as genetic engineering are needed to address limitations of classical breeding efforts. It will accelerate identification and incorporation of useful genes into cultivars, facilitate positional cloning of genes, and provide new opportunities for assessing and expanding the genepool in safflower through comparative mapping of related and unrelated taxa, and contribute to the understanding of the biological basis of complex traits and phenomena important to crop improvement and in the development of transgenics. Gene identification and mapping deserves special attention in the genus because several of the valued traits are unique to safflower. For instance, safflower is unique among the oil crops to have the highest amount linoleic acid (710–750 g kg1) (Hamdan et al. 2009). ESTs are currently the most widely sequenced nucleotide commodity from plant genomes in terms of the number of sequences and the total nucleotide count. ESTs provide a robust sequence resource that can be exploited for gene discovery, genome annotation, and comparative genomics (Rudd 2003). A large number of ESTs (40, 996) are available in safflower. Safflower researchers, therefore, can use EST resources developed in safflower to design markers or identify gene–trait relationships for molecular applications in safflower. Also, genes can be searched in the safflower’s EST database and perhaps DNA chips could be developed to conduct MAS. The identification of genes underlying economically important traits will enable the identification of “functional markers” such as SNPs within the key genes enabling efficient, high-throughput selection at the genic rather than the phenotypic level, or eventually even the design and substitution of improved alleles for these genes by some form of gene-specific transformation. Development of genetic linkage maps in safflower is still in its infancy. Nevertheless, one intraspecific and one interspecific map are currently under development (Mayerhofer et al. 2010), and it will soon be available to safflower researchers for carrying out molecular breeding. Currently, some of the LGs (linkage groups) have significant numbers of markers available (LG1) while others (LG7 to LG12) do not. More markers will be required to saturate the linkage map

4 Carthamus

to make it more reliable and practically feasible for molecular breeding. In this regard, efforts are underway to design markers from the genomic DNA libraries (both small-insert SSR libraries and random genomic libraries) to saturate the linkage groups (Mayerhofer et al. 2010). The resulting markers can then be used to study the genetic basis of a number of key agronomic traits including flowering time, seed yield, and other traits of interest to safflower researchers. Acknowledgments This work was supported, in part, by grantin-aid for Scientific Research from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), and the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Government of India. Vishnu Bhat is thanked for suggestions and support. S.N. Raina is grateful to National Academy of Sciences for award of a Senior Scientist Fellowship.

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D. Sehgal and S. Nath Raina Stebbins GL (1950) Variation and evolution in plants. Colombia University Press, New York, USA Song K, Lu P, Tang k, Osborn TC (1995) Rapid genome changes in synthetic polyploids of Brassica and its implications for polyploid evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92: 7719–7723 Stebbins GL (1971) Chromosomal evolution in higher plants. Edward Arnold, London, UK Stewart JL (1869) Punjab plants. The Governments Press, Public Works Department, Lahore Suresh KK, Balakrishnan R (2001) Strategies for developing core collection of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) germplasm – Part 1. Sampling from diversity groups of quantitative morphological descriptors. Indian J. Plant Genet Resour 14:22–31 Susanna A, Garcia-Jacas N, Soltis DE, Soltis PS (1995) Phylogenetic relationships in tribe Cardueae (Asteraceae) based on ITS sequences. Amer J Bot 82:1056–1068 Susanna A, Vilatersana R (1996) Las afinidades de Ferneniasia Susanna (Compositae), o rectificar es de sabios. Anales Jard Bot Madrid 544:355–357 Taketa S, Ando H, Takeda K, Ichii M, Bothmer RV (2005) Ancestory of American Polyploid Hordeum species with the I genome inferred from 5S and 18S-25S rDNA. Ann Bot 96:23–33 Tam SM, Mhiri C, Vogelaar A, Kerkveld M, Pearce SR, Grandbastien A (2005) Comparative analyses of genetic diversities within tomato and pepper collections detected by retrotransposons-based SSAP, AFLP and SSR. Theor Appl Genet 110:819–831 Thomas CA (1971) Registration of ‘VFR-1’ safflower germplasm. Crop Sci 11:606 Tobgy HA (1943) A cytological study of Crepis fuliginosa, C. neglecta, and their F1 hybrid, and its bearing on the mechanism of phylogenetic reduction in chromosme number. J Genet 45:67–111 Ude G, Pillay M, Ogundiwin E, Tenkouano A (2003) Genetic diversity in an African plantain core collection using AFLP and RAPD markers. Theor Appl Genet 107:248–255 Urie AL, Knowles PF (1972) Safflower introductions resistant to Verticillium wilt. Crop Sci 12:545–546 Vander Stappen J, Marant S, Volckaert G (2003) Molecuar characterization and phylogenetic utility of the rDNA external transcribed spacer region in Stylosanthes (Fabaceae). Theor Appl Genet 107:291–298 Varshney RK et al. (2005) Interspecific transferability and comparative mapping of barley EST-SSR markers in wheat, rye and rice. Plant Sci. 168, 195–202 Van de Ven WTG, Duncan N, Ramsay G, Phillips M, Powell W, Waugh R (1993) Taxonomic relationships between V. faba and its relatives based on nuclear and mitochondrial RFLPs and PCR analysis. Theor Appl Genet 86:71–80 Vavilov NI (1951) The origin, variation, immunity and breeding of cultivated plants. Ronald Press Company, New York, 1951, 364 pp Velasco L, Fernandez-Martinez J (2001) Breeding for oil quality in safflower. In: Bergman JW, Mundel HH (eds) Proceedings of the 5th international safflower conference, Williston, ND, and Sidney, MT, 23–27 July 2001, pp 133–137

4 Carthamus Vershinin AV, Alkhimova AG, Heslop-Harrison JS, Potapova TA, Omelianchuk N (2001) Different patterns in molecular evolution of the Triticeae. Hereditas 135:153–160 Vilatersana R, Susana A, Garcia-Jacas N, Garnetje T (2000a) Karyology, generic delineation and dysploidy in the genera Carduncellus, Carthamus and Phonus (Asteraceae). Bot J Linn Soc 134:425–438 Vilatersana R, Susanna A, Garcia-Jacas N, Garnatje T (2000b) Generic limitation and phylogeny of the CarduncellusCarthamus complex (Asteraceae) based on ITS sequences. Plant Syst Evol 221:89–105 Vilatersana R, Garnatje T, Susanna A, Garcia-Jacas N (2005) Taxonomic problems in Carthamus (Asteraceae): RAPD markers and sectional classification. Bot J Linn Soc 147: 375–383 Vilatersana R, Brysting AK, Brochmann C (2007) Molecular evidence for hybrid origins of the invasive polyploids Carthamus creticus and C. turkestanicus (Cardueae, Asteraceae). Mol Phylogenet Evol. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.05.008 Vincent MA, Cusick AW (1998) New records of alien species in the Ohio vascular flora. Ohio J Sci 98:10–17 Volkov RA, Komarova NY, Panchuk II, Hamleben V (2003) Molecular evolution of rDNA external transcribed spacer and phylogeny of sect. Petota (genus Solanum). Mol Phylogent Evol 29:187–202 Weiss EA (1971) Castor, sesame and safflower. Leonard Hill Books, University Press, Aberdeen, London, UK, pp 529–774 Weiss EA (1983) Oilseed crops. Longman Group, London, UK, pp 216–281 Weiss EA (2000) Oilseed crops. Chapter 4. Safflower. Longman Group Limited, Longman House, London, UK, pp 93–132 Wendel JF, Schnabel A, Seelanan T (1995) Bidirectional interlocus concerted evolution following allopolyploid speciation in cotton (Gossypium). Proc Natl Acad Sci 92:280–284 Xiang QP, Xiang QY, Liston A, Zhang XC (2004) Phylogenetic relationships in Abies (Pinaceae): evidence from PCR-RFLP

95 of the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region. Bot J Lin Soc 145:425–435 Yang Y-X, Wu W, Zheng Y-L, Chen L, Liu R-J, Huang C-Y (2007) Genetic diversity and relationships among safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) analyzed by inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSRs). Genet Resour Crop Evol 54:1043–1051 Yazdi-Samadi B, Amiri RM, Ghannadha MR, Abd-Mishani C (2001) Detection of DNA polymorphism in landrace populations of safflower in Iran using RAPD-PCR technique. In: Bergman JW, Mundel HH, Jensen JL, Flynn CR, Grings EE, Tanaka DL, Riveland NR, Johnson RC, Hill AB (eds) Proceedings of the fifth international safflower conference. Williston, North Dakota and Sidney, MT, USA, p 163 Yee E, Kidwell KK, Sills GR, Lumpkin TA (1999) Diversity among selected Vigna angularis (Azuki) accessions on the basis of RAPD and AFLP markers. Crop Sci 39:268–275 Zeid M, Scho¨n C, Link W (2003) Genetic diversity in recent elite faba bean lines using AFLP markers. Theor Appl Genet 107:1304–1314 Zhang Z (2001) Genetic diversity and classification of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) germplasm by isozyme techniques. In: Bergman J, Mundel HH (eds) Safflower: a multipurpose species with unexploited potential and world adaptability. Proceedings of the 5th international safflower conference, Williston, ND, Sidney MT, 23–27 July, pp 157–162 Zhang L, Huang B-B, Kai G-Y, Guo M-L (2006) Analysis of intraspecific variation of Chinese Carthamus tinctorius L. using AFLP markers. Acta Pharm Sin 41:91–96 Zhao J, Wang X, Deng B, Lou P, Wu J, Sun R, Xu Z, Vromans J, Koorneef M, Bonnema G (2005) Genetic relationships within Brassica rapa as inferred from AFLP fingerprints. Theor Appl Genet 110:1301–1314 Zhebentyayeva TN, Reighard GL, Gorina VM, Abbott AG (2003) Simple sequence repeat (SSR) analysis for assessment of genetic variability in apricot germplasm. Theor Appl Genet 106:435–444

.

Chapter 5

Crambe Eicke Rudloff and Youping Wang

5.1 Basic Botany 5.1.1 Geographical Distribution and Morphology The genus Crambe L. is one of the species-richest in the tribe Brassiceae, involving 34 or 35 species (Schulz 1919; Leppik and White 1974; Gomez-Campo 2000; Warwick et al. 2000; Warwick and Al Shehbaz 2006). Due to a revision of section Dendrocrambe DC. recently conducted by Prina and Martine´z-Laborde (2008), the number of species and subspecies increased to 44 (Table 5.1). The geographic distribution area ranges in north–south direction from the Arctic Polar Circle to the equator and in west–east direction from Macaronesian archipelago to western China and northern India; some species were introduced to Australia, China, and America (Schulz 1919; Wang et al. 2000; Appel and Al-Shebaz 2003; Prina and Martine´z-Laborde 2008). The vertical distribution ranges from sea-level till 3,800 m in the Himalayas; the climatic conditions involved range from moderate maritime climates to semi-arid and arid climates. The three sections, in which the genus is divided, are geographically separated. The species of section Dendrocrambe DC. are the most west located and endemic to the Macaronesian archipelago (Canary Islands and Madeira). The adjacent geographic region involving the northern part of central Europe as well as the Mediterranean and the African area is the distribution region of section Leptocrambe

E. Rudloff (*) Julius K€uhn Institute, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Breeding Research on Agricultural Crops, Erwin-Baur-Str. 27, 06484 Quedlinburg, Germany e-mail: [email protected]

DC., and the section Sarcocrambe DC. is native to the Eurasian–Asian area till the West Himalayas. The species are annual or perennial, taprooted, often glaucous, glabrous, or pubescent herbs or subshrubs. The cauline leaves are 3-pinnatisect to entire or rarely pinnate. The sepals are ascending, the lateral pair is subsaccate, petals are white or rarely sulfureous, ovate to oblong and shortly clawed. The anthers are oblong to ovate; the median filaments are wing-like flattened and mostly appendaged. The lateral nectaries are more or less semi-annular, intrastamial, median large, globose, and distinct. The style is obsolete or lacking, the stigma is capitate and entire. There are two ovules; the globose, ellipsoid, or ovoid fruits (silicles) are heteroarthrocarpous and ascending to divaricate. The distal segment is one-seeded and terete to quadrangular, usually corky and often longitudinally ribbed and rugose or reticulate. The proximal segment is obsolete and seedless, but with one rudimentary ovule. Thus, the silicles bear only one seed, which is orthoplocal with conduplicate cotyledons. At maturity, the silicles do not dehisce and are of grayish-brown color. The fruit articulation is dedicious or non-dedicious. The seed is 1–3 mm in diameter and tan to black colored (Prantl 1891; Schulz 1919; Appel and Al-Shebaz 2003) (Fig. 5.1).

5.1.2 Taxonomy and Chromosomal Status The taxonomic position of the genus Crambe L. is as follows: order Capparales family Brassicaceae tribe Brassiceae subtribe Raphaninae


97

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Table 5.1 Compilation of the three sections and the respective species of the genus Crambe (according to Schulz 1919; FranciscoOrtega et al. 1999; Prina 2000; Warwick et al. 2006; Prina and Martine´z-Laborde 2008) 1. Section Sarcocrambe DC. 19 species; gynaecium without pistil, stigma sessile, perennials, distribution area Eurasian–Asian region to the West Himalayas: Crambe aculeolata (N. Busch) Czerniak. Crambe amabilis Butkov & Majlun Crambe armena N. Busch Crambe aspera M. Bieb. Crambe cordifolia Steven Crambe edentula Fisch. & C.A. Mey. ex Korsh. Crambe gordjaginii Sprygin & Popov Crambe grandiflora DC. Crambe grossheimii I. Khalilov Crambe hedgei I. Khalilov Crambe juncea M. Bieb. Crambe koktebelica (Junge) N. Busch Crambe kotschyana Boiss. Crambe maritima L. Crambe orientalis L. Crambe persica Boiss. Crambe schugnana Korsh. Crambe steveniana Rupr. Crambe tataria Sebeo´k 2. Section Leptocrambe DC. 7 species and subspecies; annuals to short perennials with pronounced leafy main stem; distribution area Mediterranean region and East Africa: Crambe filiformis Jacq. Crambe hispanica subsp. hispanica L. Crambe hispanica subsp. abyssinica Hochst. ex R.E.Fr.a Crambe hispanica subsp. glabrata (DC.) Cout. Crambe kralikii subsp. garamas (Maire) Podlech Crambe kralikii subsp. kralikii Coss. Crambe sinuato-dentata Hochst. ex F. Petri 3. Section Dendrocrambe DC. 18 species and subspecies; subshrubs (3–4 m), profusely branched, endemic in the Macaronesian archipelago (13 in the Canary Islands, 2 in Madeira): Crambe arborea Webb ex H. Christb Crambe feuilleei A. Santosb Crambe fruticosa subsp. fruticosa L.f.b Crambe fruticosa subsp. pinnatifida (Lowe) Prina & Martin.-Labordeb Crambe gigantea (Ceballos and Ortunõ) Bramwell Crambe glaberrima (Bornm.) Mouterde ex Greuter & Burdet Crambe gomerae subsp. gomerae Webb ex Christb Crambe gomerae subsp. hirsuta Prinab Crambe laevigata DC. ex H. Christ Crambe microcarpa A. Santos Crambe pritzelii Bolleb Crambe santosii Bramwellb Crambe scaberrima Webb ex Bramwellb Crambe scoparia Svent. Crambe strigosa L’He´r. Crambe sventenii B. Pett. ex Bramwell & Sundell Crambe tamadabensis A. Prina & A.Marrero Crambe wildpretii A. Prina & D. Bramwell a

In the further text indicated as C. abyssinica Species and subspecies that were introduced as distinct by Prina and Martine´z-Laborde (2008) but not indicated as “accepted” in Warwick et al. (2006) b

5 Crambe

99

Fig. 5.1 Crambe L. (a) flower diagram; (b) flower cut vertically; (c) androeceum; (d) pistil and nectaries; (e) silicule; (f) seed (modified from Watson and Dallwitz 1992)

The genus is monophyletic (see Sect. 5.2.1) and it is according to morphological characters and to the geographic distribution divided into several sections. The original division, made by de Candolle (1778–1841) according to morphological characters and geographical distribution, considered the three sections Leptocrambe DC., Dendrocrambe DC., and Sarcocrambe DC. It was confirmed by Prantl (1891) and Schulz (1919). Khalilov (1991 cited from FranciscoOrtega et al. 1999; Prina and Martine´z-Laborde 2008) defined seven sections: section Dendrocrambe DC. (Schulz 1919) was divided into two new sections Dendrocrambe and Rhipocrambe, the section Leptocrambe DC. remained largely unaffected, and the species distributed over Eurasia, which belonged to the section Sarcocrambe DC., according to Schulz (1919), were divided into four new sections Crambe, Astrocrambe, Flavocrambe and Orientecrambe. Due to the application of molecular techniques to phylogenetic investigations, Warwick and Black (1997) as well as Francisco-Ortega et al. (1999) revealed results, which coincided rather with the original classification (Schulz 1919) into three sections (see also Sect. 5.3). The results were supported by the chemotaxonomic analyses of Aguinagalde and Gomez-Campo (1984), who detected distinct flavonoid patterns for the three sections. After detailed morphological studies also Prina (2000, cited from Prina and Martine´z-Laborde 2008) confirmed the classification made by de Candolle and applied by Schulz (1919). Thus, according to their morphological characterization and distribution area, the three sections displayed in Table 5.1 are to discern (Prantl 1891; Schulz 1919; Prina 2000; Prina and Martine´z-Laborde 2008). The names of the species in Table 5.1 are in accordance with the species check

list of Warwick et al. (2006), which comprises the accepted botanical names. The section Leptocrambe DC. was completed with the species additionally mentioned by Warwick et al. (2006). In this section, the species C. abyssinica and C. glabra were reassigned as subspecies to C. hispanica according to the new findings from molecular phylogenetic studies (Prina 2000). The former distinct species C. kilimandscharica was not accepted in Warwick et al. (2006) but integrated into C. hispanica subsp. abyssinica. Similarly, the hitherto distinct species C. garamas had been reassigned as subspecies to C. kralikii, which was also accepted by Warwick et al. (2006). The section Dendrocrambe DC., which is endemic in the Macaronesian archipelago, was revised by Prina and Martine´z-Laborde (2008). Since their paper was published later than the species check list of Warwick et al. (2006), their new classification was integrated into Table 5.1 but marked with two asterisks. The genus Crambe has a unique basic chromosome number of x ¼ 15 and is exclusively polyploid (Marhold and Lihova 2006; Warwick and Al Shehbaz 2006; Lysak et al. 2007). The available data about chromosome number and genome size are summarized in Table 5.2. In former papers, the species names differed from those of Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) or Prina and Martine´z-Laborde (2008). In these cases, the name from the original paper was used but prefixed with an “as” and attached to the accepted name (e.g., second row in Table 5.2). The diploid chromosome number (2n) varies from 30 to 150 resembling a polyploid series of 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 150 chromosomes. Lysak et al. (2007) revealed 6, 12 copies of the analyzed block in the C. maritime (2n ¼ 60), C. cordifolia (2n ¼ 120),

Table 5.2 Chromosome number and nuclear DNA content in the genus Crambe L. Species Chromosome no.a n 2n Crambe aculeolata n.a Crambe arborea 30 as C. astrigosa var. arborea 15 Crambe armena 60 Crambe aspera 30 Crambe cordifolia ca. 60 120 C. cordifolia 60 C. cordifolia 120 C. cordifolia ca. 120 Crambe edentula n.a Crambe feuilleei n.a Crambe filiformis 15 C. filiformis 30 Crambe fruticosa 15 30 C. fruticosa 30; 60 Crambe gigantea n.a Crambe glaberrima n.a Crambe gomerae 15 C. gomerae n.a Crambe gordjaginii 150 Crambe grandiflora 120 C. grandiflora ca. 120 Crambe grossheimii n.a Crambe hedgei n.a Crambe hispanica subsp. hispanica 30 60 as C. hispanica 30 C. hispanica subsp. hispanica 60 as C. hispanica 60 C. hispanica subsp. abyssinica 45 90 C. hispanica subsp. abyssinica as C. abyssinica 90 Crambe hispanica subsp. glabrata 15 30 C. hispanica subsp. glabrata Crambe juncea 60; ca. 120 as C. orientalis var. juncea ca. 120 Crambe koktebelica 30 C. koktebelica 15 as C. orientalis var. koktebelica 30 Crambe kotschyana 15 30 C. kotschyana 15 3.9c

7.04c

4.05c

Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Warwick and Black (1997) Mulder and Mastebroek (1996) Manton (1932) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Mulder and Mastebroek (1996) Wang et al. (1995); Manton (1932) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Mulder and Mastebroek (1996) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Manton (1932) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Warwick and Black (1997) Manton (1932) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Warwick and Black (1997)

Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Manton (1932)

http://www.mobot.org/

(continued)

Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006); Warwick and Black (1997) Manton (1932) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Manton (1932)

Suda et al. (2003) Warwick and Black (1997) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Warwick and Black (1997) Lysak et al. (2007) Manton (1932)

1.86b

9.468 b

Reference

2C-DNA content (pg)

100 E. Rudloff and Y. Wang

n.a

15; 30; 60

15 n.a

15

15 n.a n.a 15

15

n.a 15 15; 30 n.a n.a n.a

15; 30

15 15; 30

Chromosome no.a n 15; 30; 45 15; 30; 45 15

n.a.: data not available b 2.0 C level as reference value (for details see reference) c 0 C level as reference value (for details see reference)

a

Crambe kralikii C. kralikii Crambe laevigata C. laevigata C. laevigata Crambe maritima C. maritima C. maritima C. maritima Crambe microcarpa Crambe orientalis C. orientalis Crambe persica Crambe pritzelii Crambe santosii Crambe scaberrima C. scaberrima C. scaberrima Crambe schugnana Crambe scoparia Crambe sinuato-dentata Crambe steveniana Crambe strigosa C. strigosa as C. strigosa var. strigosa Crambe sventenii C. sventenii Crambe tamadabensis Crambe tataria C. tataria C. tataria as C. tataria var. pinnatifida Crambe wildpretii

Table 5.2 (continued) Species

ca. 120 60; 120

30; 60; ca. 120

30

30

30

1.98b

Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Warwick and Black (1997) Manton (1932) Manton (1932)

Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Suda et al. (2003) Warwick and Black (1997) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Warwick and Black (1997)

www.mobot.org Suda et al. (2003) Warwick and Black (1997) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006)

30 30

Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) White and Solt (1978) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Suda et al. (2003) Warwick and Black (1997) Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Lysak et al. (2007) Warwick and Black (1997) Manton (1932)

Reference

Warwick and Al Shehbaz (2006) Warwick and Black (1997)

1.85b

4.837b

1.90b

2C-DNA content (pg)

30

60

30; 60 60

30

2n 30

5 Crambe 101

102

respectively, by chromosome painting using an approximately 11.5-Mb chromosome segment of the upper arm of Arabidopsis chromosome At3. Data about the DNA content of the nucleus were rare.

5.1.3 Utilization and Agricultural Status of Crambe Species There are three kinds of utilization for Crambe species, i.e., as vegetables (culinary herbs or roots), for phytoremediation of contaminated soils, and as an oil crop. The different kinds of utilization concern diverse features of the plants.

5.1.3.1 Vegetables The distribution area of the genus Crambe involves a variety of landscapes and environmental conditions (see Sect. 5.1.1). That requires a huge adaptability, which in turn needs a sufficient degree of genetic variability. The species are not dominant for, but a well adapted part of, the respective habitat. Thus, kinds of tribal uses had already evolved in ancient times, mainly as vegetables or food. Crambe maritima was probably already known in ancient Rome. The species grows commonly on the European seaside of the Atlantic Ocean as well as of the English Channel and the Baltic Sea. Since the seventeenth century, it was used as vegetable in England, France, and the North American Colonies (Hedrick 1919; Hahnelt 1997). The plants were covered up with sand in their natural habitat and the leaves blanched while growing. After boiling, they were appreciated as a delicacy. For the nineteenth century, it was described as very popular in England and France (Hedrick 1919; Renfrew and Sanderson 2005). In the 1990s, some attempts were made in France to introduce it again as a vegetable (Pe´ron 1990; Quinsac et al. 1994; Briard et al. 2002). In 1992, a breeding program was initiated in France, which involved a systematic search for wild populations alongside the French coast of the English Channel (see Sect. 5.3.2). Investigations of glucosinolate content in fresh and boiled etiolated sprouts were reported by Quinsac et al. (1994). Glucosinolates are sulfur-containing secondary metabolites, which are


characteristically found in tissues and seeds of cruciferous plants. In damaged cells, a glycoprotein enzyme myrosinase, which is located in the idioblast, comes into contact with the glucosinolates, stored in the same cell. That induces the hydrolysis of the glucosinolate, thus producing breakdown products, which are antinutritious compounds (Agnihotri et al. 2007). The total glucosinolate content in fresh sprouts was between 5.4 and 7.3 mmol/g fresh matter, which constitutes to 80% of epiprogoitrin. Freezing resulted in nearly complete decomposition of the glucosinolates, whereas blanching (cooking for 4 min) reduced it by about 30%. C. orientalis is domestic in Asia Minor and Persia. The shape and the taste of its roots resemble that of horse radish and they were used in an analogous manner. The root and foliage of C. cordifolia, which is growing in Persia and from Caucasus to Tibet and the Himalayas, is edible. In the Garhwal Himalayas (India), several parts of the plant are consumed during famine (Duhoon and Koppar 1998). C. tatarica is domestic in the steppes of eastern Europe (rivers Danube, Dnepr, and Don) where its fleshy, sweet roots were eaten raw as well as cooked (Hedrick 1919). Ul’chenko et al. (2001) reported that in central Asia, all aerial parts of C. kotschyana are used as feed for all types of livestock, whereas the roots are edible and give starch and alcohol. An extract is used for treatment of congestion of respiratory tract.

5.1.3.2 Phytoremediation C. abyssinica is reported to be able to tolerate and accumulate unusually high amount of arsenic (As). Artus (2006) compared the As uptake of B. juncea with C. abyssinica. In a hydroponic system, the As accumulation in the leaves of C. abyssinica was fourfold higher than in B. juncea (140 vs. 34 mg/kg, dry weight base). She recommends considering the crop for use in phytoremediation research. Paulose et al. (2007) described the search for As-induced genes in C. abyssinica to elucidate the mechanisms of arsenic tolerance in plants.

5.1.3.3 Oil Crop for Industrial Use The history of agricultural utilization is very young and dates back to the 1930s, when C. abyssinica was

5 Crambe

recovered as agricultural valuable in Russia. Its oil bearing seeds, yield capacity, and adaptation on the regional conditions made it attractive as an alternative oil crop for Eurasian regions. After World War II, similar attempts were made in central Europe. The success was low till the unique seed oil composition of the species was recorded, which made it highly attractive for industrial purposes. This will be described in detail in Sect. 5.3.2.

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The main institutions for the in situ conservation of such wild species are botanical gardens. Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), an international association of botanical gardens, lists 193 accessions of 23 Crambe species worldwide (BGCI 2009).

5.2 Phylogenetic Relationships, Development of Molecular Markers, and Cytogenetic Stocks

5.1.4 Conservation Activities

5.2.1 Phylogenetic Relationships of the Genus Crambe Several species of the genus Crambe are considered as a part of the threatened biological diversity and get legal protection on a national or international level. The 1977 IUCN Red List of Endangered Species 132classified the threat level of seven species to be intermediate (C. steveniana), rare (C. fruticosa, C. scaberrima), vulnerable (C. gomerae, C. laevigata), and endangered (C. arborea, C. sventenii). Three additional species (C. koktebelica, C. scoparia, and C. tataria) were classified under legal protection (Ozinga and Schamineé 2005). Several Crambe species are as crop wild relatives (CWR) of additional interest in terms of utilization for crop improvement. One of the main instruments to protect the biological diversity is germplasm collection and the ex situ conservation in gene banks. Therefore, for longterm storage, the seed is air-dried and stored at 15 to 20 C. EURISCO counts 251 ex situ accessions conserved in European gene banks (CWR 2009). The European gene banks with the most accessions are located in Austria (AGES, eight accessions of C. abyssinica), Bulgaria (Institute for Plant Genetic Resources “K. Malkov,” 36 accessions of three species), Germany (IPK gene bank, 71 accessions of eight species), and Hungary (Institute for Agrobotany, 13 accessions of C. abyssinica) (EURISCO 2009). An ex situ Crucifer germplasm collection established by Ce´sar Go´mez-Campo at Universidad Politećnica, Madrid, Spain, contains 20 accessions of 20 species (Gomez-Campo 2000). A large germplasm collection in US is held by the National Genetic Resources Program (NGRP) of the USDA-ARS. It includes 165 accessions from ten species (GRIN 2009).

A few reports have used internal transcribed spacers (ITS), cpDNA, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), and similar techniques to analyze phylogenetic relationships between different members of the Crambe genus (Warwick and Black 1997; FranciscoOrtega et al. 1999; 2002; Warwick and Gugel 2003). A phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences of the ITS of nuclear ribosomal repeat was conducted with 27 species of Crambe (Francisco-Ortega et al. 1999). Cladistic analyses using weighted and unweighted parsimony support Crambe as a monophyletic genus with three major lineages. The first comprises those taxa endemic to the Macaronesian archipelagos. Taxa with a predominant Mediterranean distribution form the second assemblage, and a disjunction between East Africa (C. abyssinica) and the Mediterranean (C. hispanica) occur in this clade. The third lineage includes all Euro Siberian–Asian taxa and C. kilimandscharica, a species from the highlands of East Africa. A basal biogeographic split between East Africa and Eurasia is present in the third clade. The patterns of relationships in the ITS tree are concordant with known climatic events in North Africa and southwestern Asia since the middle Miocene. The ITS trees are congruent with the current sectional classification except for a few members of sections Crambe, Leptocrambe, and Orientecrambe (C. cordifolia, C. endentula, C. kilimandscharica, and C. kotschyana). Warwick and Gugel (2003) compared genetic relationships among C. abyssinica, C. hispanica, and C. glabrata and a taxonomic separation of them using traditional morphological traits, agronomic and seed quality data,

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chromosome number, and various molecular data sets including nuclear-DNA-based random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) data, chloroplast (cpDNA) restriction site data, and ITS sequence data for the ITS region of the nuclear ribosomal DNA. The three species can be distinguished most reliably by chromosome number. Accessions could generally, but not always, be distinguished morphologically by plant branching pattern, fruit articulation and color, leaf pubescence, and leaf shape. cpDNA restriction site data and ITS sequence data, two relatively conserved DNA data sets, supported the recognition of C. glabrata as a distinct species separate from the C. hispanica/C. abyssinica accessions. Within the latter group, both RAPD data and field evaluation data revealed greater amounts of genetic variation in C. hispanica compared to accessions of C. abyssinica, with the latter included as a subset of C. hispanica. C. glabrata was genetically distinct for all data sets and warrants separate species status. Phylogenetic studies have indicated that C. filiformis Jacq. (n ¼15), an endemic of southern Spain, Algeria, and Morocco, is the most closely related species to C. abyssinica and C. hispanica, and that the n ¼ 15 taxon, C. kralikii, an endemic of Morocco and Algeria, formed a sister group to the clade containing these three taxa (Warwick and Black 1997; Francisco-Ortega et al. 1999). Glabrous leaf was used as a dominant marker in measuring outcrossing percent between C. abyssinica and C. hispanica. Pubescence appears to follow a normal diploid segregation controlled by one gene with glabrous leaf dominant to pubescent leaf (Beck et al. 1975). Three separate sets of molecular data are consistent with the inclusion of C. abyssinica and C. hispanica in the same species and the recognition of C. glabrata as a separate species. This conclusion is supported by hybridization and flavonoid data from previous studies. Mulder and Mastebroek (1996) reported successful crosses between C. abyssinica and C. hispanica, and a lack of success in crossing C. hispanica and C. glabrata. Meier and Lessman (1973a, b) also reported successful reciprocal crosses between C. abyssinica and C. hispanica; they also suggested that the parents used in their study should be classed as a single species based on similar chromosome numbers and raised the possibility that the plants that were thought to be C. hispanica may not have been that species. The C. hispanica parent was later determined to be an ecotype of C. abyssinica


(Lessman 1975). Flavonoid studies by Aguinagalde and Gomez-Campo (1984) indicated identical patterns for C. abyssinica and C. hispanica and the presence of two unique flavone glycosides in the Crambe taxa surveyed, whereas C. glabrata was distinctly different, having a much more complex range of flavonoids similar to that found in other Crambe species.

5.2.2 Molecular Markers Somers and Demmon (2002) used direct amplification of minisatellite DNA (DAMD) by PCR to clone fragments of DNA from C. abyssinica, C. hispanica var. hispanica, and C. hispanica var. glabrata. The DAMD PCR fragments were used as probes to hybridize the genome, and the Crambe genome-specific probes (pCa17.3, 420 bp) can be used to distinguish other crucifer species. In 1992, a systematic search for wild populations of C. maritima was undertaken in France, from Quiberon (South Brittany) to Dunkerque (North France near Belgium). Morphological descriptors and molecular markers (RAPD) were used to study the phenotypic variability of the collected plants. A great variability for leaf and leaf-stalk color, limb, flowers, and silique sizes was observed. Among the wild collected plants, molecular similarity varied from 25 to 85%. The mean distance from all the wild genotypes to the breeding material already in collection was large (50%) (Briard et al. 2002).

5.2.3 Addition Lines Two B. napus–C. abyssinica monosomic addition lines (2n ¼ 39, AACC plus a single chromosome from C. abyssinica) were obtained from the F2 progeny of the asymmetric somatic hybrid between B. napus and C. abyssinica (Wang et al. 2006). The progeny plants with 39 chromosomes exhibited minor morphological differences from the control plant (B. napus), for example, in the presence of numerous trichomes on the stems in the young plant or very dark green leaves; both of these characteristics are typical for the chromosome donor (C. abyssinica). Genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) analysis of these two plants indicated that they each contained

5 Crambe

39 chromosomes comprising the complete diploid genome of B. napus (2n ¼ 38) and a monosomic addition chromosome from C. abyssinca. After colchicine doubling of 13 haploids derived from microspore culture, two plants were confirmed to possess 40 chromosomes, representing 38 B. napus chromosomes and two homologous C. abyssinica chromosomes (disomic addition line). The meiosis of these plants showed normal 20 bivalents (II) at the diakinesis. These doubled haploids had a low seed set, from 2.4 to 6.9, and compared to the control (B. napus), they contained a higher level of erucic acid (51.9%). The intergeneric hybrid between Brassica chinensis and C. abyssinica with 55 chromosomes was obtained. After several generations of in vitro propagation by tissue culture, the chromosomes of the hybrid were remarkably reduced, ranging from 25 to 28. The reduction of chromosomes and the high numbers of bivalents in the hybrid were possibly due to the Crambe chromosome elimination and the Brassica genome doubling in the cells (Tang et al. 2006).

5.3 Role in Crop Improvement 5.3.1 Natural Variability for Desired Traits 5.3.1.1 Agronomic Characters Agronomically important characters related to plant development and growth depend to a great extent on environmental and cultivation conditions. Therefore, they are not reviewed in detail. Mulder and Mastebroek (1996) and Warwick and Gugel (2003) compared the genetic variation of C. abyssinica, C. hispanica, and C. glabrata regarding their agricultural applicability in Netherlands (Wageningen) and Canada (Saskatoon), respectively. At both the places, the variability in C. hispanica (29 and 29 accessions) was greater than that of C. abyssinica (4 and 58 accessions) for agronomic traits. There were significant differences between C. abyssinica and C. hispanica in days to anthesis (61.3 vs. 57.8 days in Wageningen and 54 vs. 49 days in Saskatoon) and plant height (97.7 vs. 121 cm in Wageningen and 93 vs. 114 cm in Saskatoon). The range for days to anthesis in Wageningen was 60.4–62.6 days and 45.9–85.5 days in C. abyssinica

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and C. hispanica, respectively, and in Saskatoon, 45–58 days and 42–66 days, respectively. Similar species differences occurred in plant height and other agronomic characters. Compared to C. abyssinica, C. glabrata displayed significant differences in both trials with regard to days to anthesis but not plant height. Obviously, the growth is delayed under Chinese conditions; Wang et al. (2000) recorded 212–224 days to maturity for several selections from cv. “Meyer” compared with 90–100 days for similar cultivars in Italy (Lazzeri et al. 1994).

5.3.1.2 Fruit and Seed Characters and Seed Compounds The harvest product of a Crambe cultivar is the seed bearing fruit, because the pod in contrast to other Brassica oil crops, e.g., oilseed rape (B. napus) or sarson (B. juncea), remains closed at maturity. This is a disadvantage because it increases volume to be transported, complicates oil extraction, and decreases the proportion of oil and protein. In C. abyssinica, the husk or pericarp proportion was 21.2% in c.v. “Meyer” (Reuber et al. 2001) and between 25 and 40% in samples of 75 field trials in 17 US states (Earle et al. 1966). Downey (1971) reported that pericarp proportion in Canada differed from these results, displaying 14–20%. In trials in Italy, cv. “BelEnzian” and “BelAnn” displayed a hull content of 27.4% and 28.8%, respectively (Lazzeri et al. 1994). The only available study with other species was that from Comlekcioglu et al. (2008), whose data for Turkish wild populations of C. orientalis and C. tataria indicated a pericarp content of 45% and 25%, respectively. The formation of more than one seed in the fruit of Crambe species occurs occasionally, but Duhoon and Koppar (1998) collected in altitudinal ranges from 500 to 3,800 m at the Garhwal Himalayas (India) a C. cordifolia with 3–5 seeds per siliqua. Introgression of such trait into the C. abyssinica crop would be of great advantage for the Crambe business. Table 5.3 summarizes results of several seed characters (content of oil, protein and glucosinolates, and 1,000-fruit weight). As mentioned above, the siliques do not dehisce at maturity, but the seed remains covered with the pericarp. For the processing of C. abyssinica, mechanical peeling of the seeds is recommended to get hulled seeds. This is possible

b

It is not clear if the oil content is related to the fruit (whole seed) or the hulled seed In parentheses: no of accessions studied or name of cv c Means of different years (1991/1992) d Different cultivars in different years

a

Table 5.3 Variation of several seed characters in the genus Crambe L. Species 1,000 fruit weight (g) Seed protein (%) Seed glucosinolate (mmol/g or %) Whole seed Whole seed Hulled Whole seed Hulled Crambe abyssinica C. abyssinica 6.9–8.7 C. abyssinica 6.0–7.8 22.7–32.2 81.6–118.7 C. abyssinica 5.5–6.5 24.2 31.2 71.5–82.2 116.1 C. abyssinica 6.54 C. abyssinica 7.0/6.8 65.4/64.2 C. abyssinica C. abyssinica C. abyssinica 10.4–26.3% C. abyssinica 26.5/26.7 83.1/92.0 C. abyssinica 22–37 4–10% C. abyssinica 25.8 8–10% C. abyssinica 4,2/5,3 32/25 C. abyssinica 5.7–7.9 Crambe amabilis Crambe cordifolia 17.5 45 Crambe fruticosa Crambe glabrata 9.9–14.2 C. glabrata 8.0–10.5 21.9–26.5 59.9–87.0 Crambe hispanica 5.7–13.2 C. hispanica 5.1–9.5 19.1–35.5 83.4–120.5 C. hispanica 4.7 29 Crambe kotschyana Crambe. kralikii Crambe maritima as C. pontica Crambe orientalis 10.0–29.0 C. orientalis 6.7 31 Crambe scaberrima Crambe schugnana Crambe tataria 9.0–18.0 C. tataria 15.5 40 11.0 18.58a 15.0

11.0

23.0a 19.0 41.7

6.9 24.6–27.5 22.9–30.6 22.9–29.5 17.2–35.3

36/34 27.8–35.3 18.41(1)

25.0 33

26.0 43

45

26

Oil content (%) Whole seed Hulled 38.7a 25.7–29.0 31.3–38.5 34.48 44.47 32.2 30.7/34.4 33.6 35.6–42.8 38.8–45.5 35.2/36.3 /44.8 24–37 36–54

Comlekcioglu et al. (2008) (1; 20 plants) Miller et al. (1965) Kumar and Tsunoda (1978) (1) Umarov et al. (1972) (1) Comlekcioglu et al. (2008) (1; 20 plants) Miller et al. (1965) (1)

Dolya et al. (1977) (1) Mulder and Mastebroek (1996) (4) Warwick and Gugel (2003) (58) Wang et al. (2000) (cv. Meyer) McKillican (1966) (1) Mastebroek et al. (1994) (22)c Mandal et al. (2002) (1) Castleman et al. (1999) (25) Lessman (1975) (162) Lazzeri et al. (1994) (BelEnzian/BelAnn) Earle et al. (1966) (75) Erickson and Bassin (1990) (?) Mikolajczak et al. (1961) (2) Oplinger et al. (1991) (8 cv.)d Umarov and Kisapova (1973) Miller et al. (1965) (1) Kumar and Tsunoda (1978) (1) Mulder and Mastebroek (1996) (7) Warwick and Gugel (2003) (7) Mulder and Mastebroek (1996) (29) Warwick and Gugel (2003) (29) Miller et al. (1965) (1) Ul’chenko et al. (2001) (1) Kumar and Tsunoda (1978) (1) Dolya et al. (1973) (1)

Referenceb

106 E. Rudloff and Y. Wang

5 Crambe

with special devices (Reuber et al. 2001), but most studies were done without peeling, i.e., with the whole seed. Therefore, in Table 5.3, it is considered if hulled or whole seeds were analyzed. The 1,000-seed weight displays a considerable intra- and interspecific variability and ranges in C. abyssinica from 4.2 to 8.7 g; and from 8.0 to 14.2 g and 4.7 to 13.2 g in C. glabrata and C hispanica, respectively. The heaviest seeds were observed in C. orientalis (average 17.5 g). The respective weight of hulled seed was 9.7 g (Comlekcioglu et al. 2008). The oil content of hulled seed attained in C. abyssinica was more than 44%, and it is expected from several data in the “whole seeds” column that it would be outreached by several accessions. Similar values were displayed from C. hispanica (35.3%) (Warwick and Gugel 2003). Some other species display remarkable high oil content, too. That applies to C. pontica with 41.7% (Dolya et al. 1973) and C. orientalis with 43% (Miller et al. 1965). The protein content is of particular value for the oil crop C. abyssinica, since the seed meal after the extraction of oil provides a protein-rich and nutritious feeding stuff. The protein content of hulled seeds ranged in C. abyssinica from 22% to 31.2%, which resembled oilseed rape (B. napus). The protein content of defatted seed meal was similar in Crambe and oilseed rape as well. It was 45–47% in rapeseed (Downey 1971) and 44–46% in C. abyssinica cv. “Meyer” (Reuber et al. 2001), respectively. The utilization of the seed meal of Brassica crops is limited by the glucosinolates in the seed. The whole seed contains about 60–110 mmol/g seed meal, which consists mainly of epiprogoitrin (90%). The breakdown products (isothiocyanates, thiocyanates) due to the myrosinase-caused hydrolysis in damaged tissues affect the iodine uptake by the thyroid gland in nonruminant animals and reduced the palatability of the feed and its efficiency (Agnihotri et al. 2007). The glucosinolate level shown in Table 5.3 is similar to conventional cultivars of oilseed rape (non-Canola quality) and wild species of Brassicaceae. A source for low glucosinolate content is not known so far in the genus Crambe. Besides its importance as a deleterious compound in food and feed, glucosinolates have biological functions, which could open up new fields of application. An important function is to defend the plant against herbivores (insects, molluscs, and nematodes) as well as pathogenic microbes and viruses

107

(Kliebenstein et al. 2005; Wink 2007). Lazzeri et al. (1993) and Mari et al. (1993) reported on the in vitro activity of the breakdown products (isothiocyanates) against nematodes and post-harvest fruit pathogens, respectively. Breakdown products of glucosinolates have been indicated as inhibitors of chemically induced carcinogenesis. Attempts to produce enantiomerically pure fine chemicals from the glucosinolates of Crambe meal, which is attractive due to its high amount of progoitrin (>90 mmol/g) as described by Daubos et al. (1998), will support those applications. The available methods of detoxification of Crambe meal (Shahidi and Naczk 1990) are able to attain both an improved residual meal and a good quantity of epiprogoitrin as a by-product (Lazzeri et al. 1994).

5.3.1.3 Seed Oil Composition The most important product of the oil crop C. abyssinica is the seed oil, especially the erucic acid (see Sect. 5.2). Therefore, one of the main reasons for the utilization of the wild species of the genus Crambe is expected to be the variability of the seed oil composition. The available data on seed oil composition in several Crambe species are compiled in Table 5.4. As with other characters, there was no systematic evaluation of seed oil composition so far. Of the 43 species and subspecies mentioned in Table 5.1, data only for 15 species on this matter are available. The extent differs between the species, being highest in C. abyssinica and C. hispanica, as expected. With C. abyssinica, both wild populations and cultivars were involved in the review. Obviously, there was no substantial difference in erucic acid content between cultivars (Lazzeri et al. 1994; Mulder and Mastebroek 1996; Wang et al. 2000) and wild populations (Mikolajczak et al. 1961; Earle et al. 1966; Dolya et al. 1977; Mastebroek et al. 1994). Erucic acid varied from 48.5% to 62.5%. In two other members of the section Leptocrambe DC., viz. C. hispanica and C. glabrata, a comparable amount of erucic acid was found (50.0–60.1%, and 45.4–59.9%, respectively), whereas in one accession of C. kralikii (Kumar and Tsunoda 1978), a lower content (45.5%) was estimated. Considerably high amounts of erucic acid (55.1% and 50.4%, respectively) were observed in C. scaberrima and C. fruticosa (Kumar and Tsunoda 1978) as well, which belong to the section Dendrocrambe DC.

b

a

n.a. not analyzed; not detected. C16:0 palmitic; C18:1 oleic; C18:2 linolic; C18:3 linolenic; C20:1 eicosenic; C22:1 erucic; C20:0 nervonic acid In parentheses: number of included accessions, and name of cultivars, respectively; (?): several, no. unknown c Results of 2 years (1991/1992)

Table 5.4 Seed oil fatty acid composition in Crambe species (when several accessions were analyzed, the respective range is given) Species Fatty acid (%)a Referenceb C16:0 C18:1 C18:2 C18:3 C20:1 C22:1 C24:0 Crambe abyssinica 1.53 15.24 9.46 5.22 2.80 57.07 1.62 Dolya et al. (1977) (1) C. abyssinica n.a. n.a. n.a. 6.8/6.8 9.9/8.8 54.0/55.9 n.a. Mastebroek et al. (1994) (22)c C. abyssinica 2.8 16.3 11.0 8.7 3.5 54.9 n.a. McKillican (1966) (1) C. abyssinica n.a. 13.30–15.60 8.45–9.40 6.00–8.00 1.20–1.55 55.5–57.3 1.80–2.25 Mulder and Mastebroek (1996) (4) C. abyssinica n.a. 17.0 9.0 6.0 5.0 55.0 n.a. Princen (1983) C. abyssinica 2.18 16.49 9.34 4.80 4.69 62.50 n.a. Wang et al. (2000) (5) C. abyssinica 0.2–0.3 16.0–22.8 6.9–8.5 4.3–6.0 3.7–5.6 48.5–57.9 1.3–1.6 Warwick and Gugel (2003) (58) C. abyssinica 1.9/1.8 17.2/17.6 8.7/8.5 5.2/5.4 3.4/3.7 56.2/56.3 1.6/1.5 Lazzeri et al. (1994)(cv. BelEnzian/cv. BelAnn) C. abyssinica 1.6 17.9 6.9 6.7 2.5 58.6 (51–60) 0.3 Earle et al. (1966) (75) C. abyssinica 2.0/2.0 18.0/18.0 11.0/9.0 4.0/6.0 2.0/3.0 59.0/59.0 0/0.4 Mikolajczak et al. (1961) (2) C. abyssinica 1.7 16.7 7.8 6.9 2.1 55.7 n.a Downey (1971) (?) Crambe amabilis 2.50 19.35 12.94 8.05 19.92 34.82 – Dolya et al. (1977) (1) C. amabilis 3.47 22.83 12.97 24.99 n.a. 30.78 n.a. Umarov and Kisapova (1973) (1) Crambe cordifolia 2.31 27.11 14.44 7.59 17.28 28.04 1.35 Dolya et al. (1977) (1) C. cordifolia 4.0 22.0 14.0 6.0 12.0 36.0 0.3 Miller et al. (1965) (1) Crambe fruticosa 6.0 17.7 43.4 9.5 1.8 50.4 n.a. Kumar and Tsunoda (1978) (1) Crambe glabrata n.a. 20.30–24.40 2.95–5.90 3.20–5.45 1.60–4.15 53.6–59.9 1.60–2.45 Mulder and Mastebroek (1996) (7) C. glabrata 0.3–0.5 18.0–23.0 5.1–7.3 3.9–6.1 4.8–8.5 45.4–54.8 1.0–1.6 Warwick and Gugel (2003) (7) Crambe hispanica 0.3 17.0 9.0 7.0 4.0 55.0 0.8 Miller et al. (1965) (1) C. hispanica n.a. 14.5–23.8 5.25–10.60 2.70–7.25 1.25–4.30 53.1–60.1 1.20–2.60 Mulder and Mastebroek (1996) (29) C. hispanica 0.2–0.4 17.0–20.6 5.4–8.4 4.0–7.4 2.6–6.6 50.0–58.6 1.0–108 Warwick and Gugel (2003) (29) C. hispanica 3.7 20.1 10.7 5.5 4.6 52.4 n.a. Downey (1971) (?) Crambe koktebelica 1.32 31.14 19.11 4.68 17.47 24.71 – Dolya et al. (1977) (1) Crambe kotschyana 2.36 29.29 16.57 7.66 17.10 25.66 – Dolya et al. (1977) (1) C. kotschyana 0.9 21.5 8.3 24.5 n.a. 42.1 n.a. Ul’chenko et al. (2001) (1) Crambe. kralikii 4.0 22.2 8.4 7.5 11.2 45.5 – Kumar and Tsunoda (1978) (1) Crambe maritima 4.1 26.7 25.3 4.8 14.5 21.6 0.4 Goffman et al. (1999) (1) 1.38 22.25 20.30 8.27 17.49 28.41 – Dolya et al. (1973) (1) as C. pontica Crambe orientalis 2.09 18.14 13.07 9.07 19.39 34.69 0.99 Dolya et al. (1977) (1) C. orientalis 3.27 1.61 12.42 21.21 11.34 39.39 0.99 Comlekcioglu et al. (2008) C. orientalis 2.0 18.0 11.0 10.0 20.0 36.0 0.7 Miller et al. (1965) (1) Crambe scaberrima 3.2 14.1 12.2 13.0 1.5 55.1 – Kumar and Tsunoda (1978) (1) Crambe schugnana 2.45 21.64 12.93 26.29 n.a. 34.86 n.a. Umarov et al. (1972) (1) Crambe steveniana 1.26 19.95 23.37 8.54 18.47 24.49 – Dolya et al. (1977) (1) Crambe tataria 1.72 28.69 22.17 7.81 16.46 20.72 – Dolya et al. (1977) (1) C. tataria 2.30 1.41 9.00 15.01 7.70 29.87 0.68 Comlekcioglu et al. (2008) (1) C. tataria 2.0 21.0 15.0 11.0 21.0 27.0 – Miller et al. (1965) (1) as C. pinnatifida 1.99 17.95 11.66 9.09 3.62 47.37 3.20 Dolya et al. (1977) (1) 108 E. Rudloff and Y. Wang

5 Crambe

The oleic acid content in C. orientalis and C. tataria as given by Comlekcioglu et al. (2008) seems to be very low (1.61% and 1.41%, respectively). The results from Dolya et al. (1977) and Miller et al. (1965) are rather expected. A considerable variation in linolenic acid seems to exist in some species of the section Sarcocrambe DC. It concerns C. amabilis (8.05% and 24.99%) and C. kotschyana (7.66% and 24.5%). Another species, C. schugnana, of which only one accession was analyzed, contains 24.5% linolenic acid (Ul’chenko et al. 2001).

5.3.1.4 Abiotic and Biotic Stresses The different environmental influences, which are acting in the distinct geographic areas of distribution, present a great diversity in abiotic and biotic stresses, which the plants have to combat. Results on variability in tolerance to abiotic stresses, such as for instance drought, temperature, and soil conditions, are not available. But general characterization was made for several species. Thus, C. maritima was considered to be salttolerant, but no data were available. Cultivars and released germplasms of C. abyssinica responded with decreased seed yield on increasing soil salinity (Francois and Kleiman 1990). C. abyssinica generally is considered as a low-input crop but with drought tolerance (Erickson and Bassin 1990). Of course the fact that several species are also distinguished due to their adaptation to highly different natural habitats indicates a great variability in their tolerance to abiotic stresses. C. abyssinica is infested with similar pests and diseases, which also occur in other species of the Brassicaceae family. For Germany, Amelung (1995) listed the pathogenic fungi Plasmodiophora brassicae, Albugo candida, Peronospora parasitica, P. crambes, Erysiphe polygoni, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Puccinia trabutii [Aecidium crambes], Alternaria alternata, A. brassicae, A. brassicicola, Botrytis cinerea, Chromelosporium fulvum, Fusarium acuminatum, F. avenaceum, F. culmorum, F. equiseti, F. oxysporum, F. redolens, F. solani, F. sulphureum, Verticillium dahliae, Ascochyta crambes, Asteromella brassicae, Mycosphaerella brassicicola and the pests Meligetes aeneus, Meligetes spp., Phyllotreta atra, P. nigripes, P. undulata, P. nemorum, Gastroidea polygoni. The pathogens Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Alternaria alternata, A. brassicae, A. brassicicola,

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and Botrytis cinerea were often observed to cause considerable damages to the crop. With cultivation in greenhouse or growth chamber, Scholze and Hammer (1997) evaluated the disease resistance of 900 accessions of Brassicaceae including six accessions each of C. abyssinica and C. hispanica after inoculation with Plasmodiophora brassicae, Alternaria brassicicola, A. brassicae, and Phoma lingam. All Crambe accessions exhibited resistance against A. brassicae and P. lingam and were susceptible for A. brassicicola and P. brassicae. In field trials, which compared 58 accessions of C. abyssinica, 29 accessions of C. hispanica, and seven accessions of C. glabrata, Warwick and Gugel (2003) observed a low blackleg (P. lingam) severity with mean values (scale 0–6) of 1.3, 0.6, and 0.8, respectively. Anderson et al. (1992) compared the feeding preference of the flea beetle (Phyllotreta cruciferae) for oilseed rape and C. abyssinica and classified the latter as resistant against this pest. This agreed with the observations reported by Carlson et al. (1996) in the field crop in North Dakota. The results on resistance against cabbage seedpod weevil (Ceutorhynchus obstrictus) are contradictory. The results of Kalischuk and Dosdall (2004), who estimated a high resistance in C. abyssinica, were not confirmed by Ca´rcamo et al. (2007), who compared a few species of Brassicaceae including C. abyssinica, C. glabrata, and C. hispanica. Due to the lack of synchrony between pod development of the plants and reproduction of the weevil, definite results were not obtained.

5.3.2 Traditional Breeding Efforts C. abyssinica is the only species with applicability in agricultural use. There are three reasons, which once made and still make Crambe a unique oil crop: – Its oil contains the highest amount of erucic acid among Crucifer oil crops, which is of great interest for industrial use – C. abyssinica and C. hispanica display a highyielding ability, comparable to rapeseed, but need lower cultivation efforts – This species does not naturally hybridize with other Brassica oil crops, especially rapeseed (Wang and Luo 1998), which allows to grow the crop in close neighborhood to them (Carlsson et al. 2007)

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The first attempts of breeding C. abyssinica were reported from the USSR around 1932 with the aim to use the low demands of the species to climate and soil conditions for oil crop breeding (Zimmermann 1963; Mastebroek et al. 1994; Carlsson et al. 2007). These attempts were continued in Germany and Poland in the 1950s and 1960s (Zimmermann 1963). In the middle of the last century, there was a growing interest in domestic vegetable oils as a renewable source of industrially useful products. One important compound of vegetable oil was the erucic acid (C22:1). This very long chained (VLCFA) and monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) is a high valuable industrial feedstock for the manufacturing of plastics, lubricants, coatings, and surfactants. The most important oil crop of the northern latitude was rapeseed (B. napus and B. rapa) with oils containing about 50% erucic acid. Ten years later, plant breeding created rapeseed with only traces of erucic acid in the seed oil for food application (Downey 1971). But rapeseed was not a crop in the US. In search for candidate crops for industrial use, USDA evaluated numerous cruciferous and other species regarding their oil content and fatty acid composition. Thus, the cruciferous species C. abyssinica became of growing interest because of its high content of erucic acid in the seed oil (Earle et al. 1959; Miller et al. 1965). Since the 1960s, there were a couple of studies about the utilization of high erucic Crambe (C. abyssinica) seed oil as an industrial feedstock (Bruun and Matchett 1963; Miwa and Wolff 1963; Mustakas et al. 1965; Nieschlag and Wolff 1971; Princen and Rothfus 1984; Lazzeri et al. 1994). The first studies concerning agronomy and breeding were initiated by Lessman at the Purdue State University involving 11 introduced lines of C. abyssinica and resulted in the release of three cultivars “Prophet,” “Indy,” and “Meyer” (Carlson et al. 1996). Very soon, Lessman noted that the variability regarding agronomic characters as well as oil content was too low to achieve further breeding success (Lessman and Meier 1972; Meier and Lessman 1973b). Continued breeding efforts including the introgression of wild accessions into cv. “Indy” resulted in the release of additional cultivars “BelAnn” and “BelEnzian” and breeding lines “C-22,” “C-29,” and “C-37” (Campbell et al. 1986a, b). In 1991, HEADE (High Erucic Acid Development Effort) was initiated in North Dakota. It was a cooperation of USDA institutions and several universities


throughout the US with the aim to force the commercialization of Crambe oil. The evaluation of breeding lines in North Dakota indicated that many of them outperform the adapted cultivars, but no one possessed all the desired traits (Knights 2002). Vegetable oils as industrial feedstock became of interest also in Europe (Ro¨bbelen 1984). In the funding programs for renewable resources and sustainable agriculture, respectively, which were initiated by the European Union (EU) in the 1980s and 1990s, C. abyssinica was one of the new crops with particular consideration (Mangan 1995). In two specific Crambe programs from 1995 to 1998 and 1999 to 2002, respectively, agronomic and breeding prospects of C. abyssinica were studied under the conditions of different sites in Europe (for details see AIR 1998; FAIR 2003). Breeding in Europe resumed in the beginning of the 1990s at the Plant Research International (PRI), Netherlands. The breeding target was aimed at improving seed and oil yield, enhancing the erucic acid content in the oil, improving the disease resistance and decreasing the glucosinolates content in the seed (Mastebroek et al. 1994; Mastebroek and Lange 1997). The results clearly demonstrated that C. hispanica had more variation than C. abyssinica for most of the traits measured. This variability may be valuable for Crambe breeding programs since C. abyssinica and C. hispanica can be successfully crossed (Mulder and Mastebroek 1996). Genotypic and phenotypic variations in Crambe are rather limited; thus only incremental progress has been made in cultivar improvement. Large numbers of selections are being evaluated followed by hybridization of superior lines. These crosses should expand the genetic diversity of C. abyssinica and allow improvements in yield, oil quality, and agronomic traits such as maturity, height, and seed retention. Also, major efforts will be directed to identify low glucosinolate materials, which, if found and incorporated into superior cultivars, would enhance meal quality. The variable ploidy levels of the related species could prove useful for creating a wide range of variability for long-term crop improvement. An interesting option is C. kralikii with its three ploidy levels (White and Solt 1978; see also Table 5.2). Perhaps greater cold and drought tolerance could be transferred into C. abyssinica from C. kralikii. Since only one accession of C. kralikii has a gametic number of 45, additional germplasm from Algeria should be collected and tested for ploidy level.

5 Crambe

Another potentially interesting objective would be to try to genetically fix two- or three-seeded fruits, which might make combine hulling feasible. These multiseeded fruits occur naturally in very low percentages in seedlots (White et al. 1994). Another possibility could be the introduction of a respective trait from the C. cordifolia accession described by Duhoon and Koppar (1998, see also Sect. 5.1.2), but there are differences in chromosome number (see Table 5.2). Mastebroek et al. (1994) evaluated 42 accessions of crambe agronomic characteristics in 1990 and 1992. Large variation was found for earliness, length of the top branch, thousand seed weight, and fatty acid composition. These characteristics showed a high correlation between the years tested. Earliness had a large impact on crop development and seed quality. Seed yield and oil content were considerably affected by environmental conditions. Little variation was found for the content of erucic acid and glucosinolates in the seeds. Three accessions, two early flowering American breeding lines and a late flowering European land race, were used in a crossing program (Mastebroek and Lange 1997). Five generations were raised. From the F3 generation onward, selection was performed for agronomical characteristics. Estimation of broadsense heritability values on the basis of variation between F3 lines revealed high values for thousand seed weight, moderate for plant height, earliness and seed oil content and low for seed yield and number of seeds produced per square meter. In comparison to the reference populations, only limited progress in seed yield was obtained by selection. Improvement of seed yield performance was also observed in the reference populations after growth of the subsequent generations. For the Dutch climatic conditions, earliness appeared desirable and selection for earliness in crossing populations might be an effective tool for indirect selection for higher yields of seed oil. Three selection cycles resulted in improved breeding lines, which exceeded the standard variety “BelAnn” in seed oil content and seed oil yield. Although C. abyssinica has potential as an oilseed crop, it lacks genetic variation for important agronomic traits, including hardiness, maturity time, and pest resistance (Papathanasiou et al. 1966; Lessman and Meier 1972; Leppik and White 1974; Mastebroek et al. 1994). Improvements in the genetic variability of C. abyssinica may be possible by mutagens. Chu et al. (2001) treated crambe seeds with different concentra-

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tions and doses of ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS) or Co, and found that low level of them could stimulate the respiration and raise the activities of ascorbic acid oxidase and peroxidase, which were associated with higher rate of seed germination and growth of seedling. High level of them had inhibiting effects on respiration and the activities of related enzymes, the germination potential of seed and the rate of germination, and the vigor of root system decreased.

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5.3.3 Gene Introgression Due To Distant Hybridization 5.3.3.1 Intrageneric Crosses As mentioned in Sect. 5.3.2, the genetic variability for desired traits is limited in C. abyssinica. But as is indicated in Sect. 5.3.1, there seems to be variability in desired traits in several other Crambe species. Therefore, intrageneric crosses should be a suited means for increasing genetic variability and selection of novel trait combinations. Whereas crosses between C. abyssinica and C. hispanica have already been made, there seems to be a lack of knowledge on intrageneric hybridization in Crambe. Also, a detailed evaluation of Crambe species other than C. hispanica is necessary for targeted intrageneric crosses for the transfer of desired traits from one Crambe species to the other.

5.3.3.2 Intergeneric Crosses Crambe species may also serve as a useful source of genes for Brassica crop improvement, particularly for flea beetle resistance (Anderson et al. 1992) and tolerance to heat stress (Johnson et al. 1995). Artificial crosses between C. abyssinica and Brassica via use of embryo rescue (Wang and Luo 1998; Tang et al. 2006) could facilitate the introduction of such traits into Brassica. In crosses of B. napus C. abyssinica and B. rapa C. abyssinica, pre-fertilization incompatibility was observed. In crosses of B. juncea C. abyssinica, pollen grains of C. abyssinica were compatible to the stigmas of the B. juncea pistils, the pollen tube growth was normal, and the pollen tube reached the micropyle in 3–4 days after pollination. Through comparative studies on embryo development

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in generic crosses of B. juncea C. abyssinica and self-cross of B. juncea, the causes of the hybrid embryo abortion were found. For the earlier aborted embryo sac, the hybrid embryos were in starvation state from 2-cell stage, with disintegration of nucellar parenchyma and degeneration of endothelium. For late-aborted embryo sac, the development of hybrid embryo was lagged in contrast with that of self-cross. During 32–64 cell or multicellular globular embryo stage, the development of embryo proper was slowed down and cellular endosperm was formed 4 days earlier than that of self-cross. An intergeneric hybrid between B. juncea C. abyssinica was obtained through conventional crossing method combined with ovary culture when C. abyssinca was used as a paternal parent (Wang and Luo 1998). Tang et al. (2006) obtained intergeneric hybrid between B. chinensis and C. abyssinica via sexual cross and embryo rescue.

5.3.3.3 Somatic Hybridization The regeneration system of C. abyssinica from single cell culture was developed by Gao et al. (1998). PEGinduced asymmetric somatic hybridization between B. napus and C. abyssinica was carried out by Wang et al. (2003). Prior to fusion, the protoplasts of C. abyssinica were exposed to different doses of UV, ranging from 0.05 to 0.30 J/cm2. UV-irradiated mesophyll protoplasts of C. abyssinica cv. “Carmen” and cv. “Galactica” were fused with hypocotyl protoplasts of different genotypes of B. napus cv. “Maplus” and breeding line “11502.” Twenty asymmetric somatic hybrids were obtained and verified by nuclear DNA content and AFLP analysis. Cytological analysis of these hybrids showed that 9 out of 20 asymmetric hybrids had 38 chromosomes, and the others contained 40–78 chromosomes, having additional chromosomes between 2 and 40 beyond the 38 expected for B. napus. Sexual progenies of asymmetric somatic hybrids between B. napus and C. abyssinica were analyzed with respect to the chromosomal behavior, fae1-gene introgression, fertility, and fatty-acid composition of the seed (Wang et al. 2004). Among 24 progeny plants investigated, eleven plants had 38 chromosomes and were characterized by the occurrence of normal meiosis with 19 bivalents. Thirteen plants had more than 38 chromosomes, constituting a complete chromosomal


set from B. napus plus different numbers of additional chromosomes from C. abyssinica. Analysis of cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) markers derived from the fae1 gene showed novel patterns different from the B. napus recipient in some hybrid offspring. Most of the progeny plants had a high pollen fertility and seed set, and some contained significantly greater amounts of seed erucic acid than the B. napus parent.

5.3.4 Isolation and Use of Genes Till now, more than 200 nucleotide sequences cloned from the genus Crambe are available in the website (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov): C. abyssinica (30), C. hispanica (26), C. hispanica subsp. abyssinica (13), C. strigosa (12), C. scaberrima (10), C. microcarpa (8), C. filiformis (7), C. hispanica subsp. hispanica (6), C. fruticosa (6), C. pritzelii (6), C. feuillei (6), C. kralikii (5), C. maritima (5), C. gomerae (4), C. arborea (4), C. cordifolia (3), C. kotschyana (3), etc. Liang et al. (1998) isolated and characterized gene promoter from C. abyssinica. The existence of a large number of novel and highly variable thionin variants in C. abyssinica has been deduced from cDNA sequences that were amplified by the PCR from RNA of seeds, leaves, and cotyledons (Schrader-Fischer and Apel 1994). Wang et al. (2004) demonstrated the successful transfer of new allelic variants of the FAE1 gene controlling erucic acid biosynthesis from the distantly related, triploid oilseed plant C. abyssinica (n ¼ 3x ¼ 45) into B. napus by somatic hybridization. Overexpression of the C. abyssinica FAE1 gene in B. carinata resulted in a substantial increase in the proportion of erucic acid in seeds compared to the wild type control (Mietkiewska et al. 2007). The increased pool of oleic acid in seeds of the transgenic plants was subsequently elongated with assistance from the heterologously expressed C. abyssinica FAE1, which resulted in a net increase of the proportion of erucic acid in T1 segregating seeds of up to 16% (Mietkiewska et al. 2008). PCR primers were designed according to the cDNA sequence of S-glucosyltransferase (S-GT) gene in B. napus, and full length of the S-GT genes in C. abyssinica was obtained by using the genomic DNA as PCR templates. Sequence alignment revealed that CaSGT gene had an intron of

5 Crambe

74 bp and coded a protein of 465 amino acids and shared a similarity of 93.4% at the DNA sequence level and a similarity of 95.06% at the amino acid level with the B. napus (Liu and Qiao 2008).

5.3.5 Transformation Recently, attempts have been made in cooperation between European Commission (EC) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to evaluate the possibilities of genetic transformation of C. abyssinica to get special seed oil composition suited for industrial utilization, especially wax ester production. Crucial motivations to choose this crop were the sexual incompatibility with other Brassica oil crops (oilseed rape) as an oil crop, and that the crop has never been a food (Carlsson 2006; Carlsson et al. 2007). A transformation protocol is critical in the process of providing Crambe with the necessary genes for novel industrial oil qualities. An Agrobacteriumbased protocol for Crambe transformation was established (Karin Sonntag personal communication). Cotyledons from 1 to 2 mm petioles were cut from 6-day seedlings after germination and placed for 20 min in A. tumefaciens suspension containing MS medium with 20 g/l sucrose, 5 mg/l BAP (benzylaminopurine), 0.5 mg/l NAA (naphthaleneacetic acid), and 2 mg/l AgNO3. Then the explants were transferred to cocultivation medium containing the same elements as the infection medium but modified by the addition of 10 mg/l acetosyringone and 8 g/l phytagar. After cocultivation, explants were placed on shoot induction medium. The experimental results revealed a great difference between three genotypes (“BelAnn,” “Carmen,” and “Galactica”) regarding their regeneration response after the infection with A. tumefaciens. The highest transformation frequency was 1.7%. After transfer to the glasshouse, the plants grew normally and developed seeds.

5.4 Conclusions The genus Crambe is one of important germplasms for vegetable production and industrial uses of its oil. It is a low-input oil crop compared to many others. In order

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to develop crambe into a nonfood oil crop platform for production of special industrial oils, the following programs should be focused: (1) Breeding for high seed yield by mutagenesis or assisted molecular markers, (2) Developing transformation protocol to produce genetically modified (GM) plants for designing novel characters, (3) Breeding for increased disease resistance, (4) Breeding for winter varieties, etc.

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5 Crambe Lysak MA, Cheung K, Kitschke M, Bures P (2007) Ancestral chromosomal blocks are triplicated in Brassiceae species with varying chromosome number and genome size. Plant Physiol 145:402–410 Mandal S, Yadav S, Singh R, Begum G, Suneja P, Singh M (2002) Correlation studies on oil content and fatty acid profile of some Cruciferous species. Genet Resour Crop Evol 49:551–556 Mangan C (1995) Non-food crops and non-food uses in EC research programs. FEMS Microbiol Rev 16:81–88 Manton I (1932) Introduction to the general cytology of the Cruciferae. Ann Bot 46:509–556 Marhold K, Lihova J (2006) Polyploidy, hybridization and reticulate evolution: lessons from the Brassicaceae. Plant Syst Evol 259:143–174 Mari M, Iori R, Leoni O, Marchi A (1993) In vitro activity of glucosinolate-derived isothiocyanates against postharvest fruit pathogens. Ann Appl Biol 123:155–164 Mastebroek HD, Wallenburg SC, van Soest LJM (1994) Variation for agronomic characteristics in crambe (Crambe abyssinica Hochst. ex Fries). Ind Crops Prod 2:129–136 Mastebroek HD, Lange W (1997) Progress in a crambe cross breeding programme. Ind Crops Prod 6:221–227 McKillican M (1966) Lipid changes in maturing oil-bearing plants. JAOCS 43:461–465 Meier VD, Lessman KJ (1973a) Breeding behavior for crosses of Crambe abyssinica and a plant introduction designated C. hispanica. Crop Sci 13:49–51 Meier VD, Lessman KJ (1973b) Heritabilities of some agronomic characters for the interspecific cross of Crambe abyssinica and C. hispanica. Crop Sci 13:237–240 Mikolajczak K, Miwa T, Earle F, Wolff I, Jones Q (1961) Search for new industrial oils. V. Oils of cruciferae. JAOCS 38:678–681 Miller RW, Earle FR, Wolff IA, Jones J (1965) Search for new industrial oils. XIII. Oils from 102 species of cruciferae. JAOCS 42:817–821 Mietkiewska E, Brost J, Giblin EM, Barton DL, Taylor DC (2007) Cloning and functional characterization of the Fatty Acid Elongase I (FAE) gene from high erucic aicd Crambe abyssinica cv. Prophet. Plant Biotechnol J 5:636–645 Mietkiewska E, Hoffman TL, Brost JM, Giblin EM, Barton DL, Francis T, Zhang Y, Taylor DC (2008) Hairpin-RNA mediated silencing of endogenous FAD2 gene combined with heterologous expression of Crambe abyssinica FAE gene causes an increase in the level of erucic acid in transgenic Brassica carinata seeds. Mol Breed 22:619–627 Miwa T, Wolff I (1963) Fatty acids, fatty alcohols, wax esters, and methyl esters from Crambe abyssinica and Lunaria annua seed oils. JAOCS 40:742–744 Mulder JH, Mastebroek HD (1996) Variation for agronomic characteristics in Crambe hispanica, a wild relative of Crambe abyssinica. Euphytica 89:267–278 Mustakas G, Kopas G, Robinson N (1965) Prepress-solvent extraction of crambe: first commercial trial run of new oilseed. JAOCS 42:550A–554A Nieschlag H, Wolff I (1971) Industrial uses of high erucic oils. JAOCS 48:723–727 Oplinger ES, Oelke EA, Kaminski AR, Putnam DH, Teynor TM, Doll JD, Kelling KA, Durgan BR, Noetzel DM (1991)

115 Crambe. http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/AFCM/crambe. html. Accessed 10 Mar 2009 Ozinga WA, Schamineé JHJ (2005) (eds) Target species – species of European concern. A database driven selection of plant and animal species for the implementation of the Pan European Ecological Network. Wageningen, Alterra, Alterrareport 1119. http://www.ocs.polito.it/biblioteca/ecorete/1119. pdf. Accessed 15 Mar 2009 Papathanasiou GA, Lessman KJ, Nyquist WE (1966) Evaluation of eleven introductions of Crambe, Crambe abyssinica Hochst. Ex Fries. Agron J 58:587–589 Pe´ron J-Y (1990) Seakale: a new vegetable produced as etiolated sprouts. In: Janick J, Simon JE (eds) Advances in new crops. Timber, Portland, OR, pp 419–422 Paulose B, Zulfiqar A, Parkash O (2007) Isolation and characterization of arsenic induced genes from Crambe abyssinica. In: 71st annual meeting of the northeast section of the American society of plant biology. Fueling the future through plant biology, Syracuse, NY, USA, 1–2 June 2007 (Poster abstr). http://www.esf.edu/outreach/neaspb/ NEASPB%202007%20Program%20Booklet.pdf. Accessed 10 Mar 2009 Prantl K (1891) Cruciferae. In: Engler HGA, Prantl KAE (Hrsg) Die Nat€urlichen Pflanzenfamilien. Leipzig, Germany, p 145 Prina A (2000) A taxonomic revision of Crambe, sect. Leptocrambe (Brassicaceae). Bot J Linn Soc 133:509–524 Prina A, Martine´z-Laborde JB (2008) A taxonomic revision of Crambe section Dendrocrambe (Brassicaceae). Bot J Linn Soc 156:291–304 Princen L (1983) New oilseed crops on the horizon. Econ Bot 37:478–492 Princen L, Rothfus J (1984) Development of new crops for industrial raw materials. JAOCS 61:281–289 Quinsac A, Ribaillier D, Charrier A (1994) Glucosinolates in etiolated sprouts of sea-kale (Crambe maritima L). J Sci Food Agric 65:201–207 Renfrew J, Sanderson H (2005) Herbs and vegetables. In: Prance G, Nesbitt M (2005) The cultural history of plants. Rutledge, New York, p 127 Reuber MA, Johnson LA, Watkins LR (2001) Dehulling crambe seed for improved oil extractionand meal quality. JAOCS 78:661–664 Ro¨bbelen G (1984) Biogenese und Verf€ugbarkeit pflanzlicher Fettrohstoffe. Fette Seifen Anstrichmittel 86:373–379 Scholze P, Hammer K (1997) Evaluation of resistance to Plasmodiophora brassicae, Alternaria and Phoma in Brassicaceae. In: Gregoire T, Monteiro AA (eds) Brassica ‘97, Proceedings of the international symposium on Brassicas, Rennes, France, 22–27 Sept 1997, Acta Hort 459: 363–369 Schrader-Fischer G, Apel K (1994) Organ-specific expression of highly divergent thionin variants that are distinct from the seed-specific crambin in the crucifer Crambe abyssinica. Mol Gen Genet 245:380–389 Schulz OE (1919) Cruciferae-Brassiceae. Subtribus. Pars Prima I. Brassicinae et II. Raphaninae. Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig, pp 228–249 Shahidi F, Naczk M (1990) Removal of glucosinolates and other antinutritients from canola and rapeseed by methanol/ ammonia processing. In: Shahidi F (ed) Canola and

116 rapeseed – production, chemistry, nutrition and processing technology. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, pp 291–306 Somers DJ, Demmon G (2002) Identification of repetitive, genome-specific probes in crucifer oilseed species. Genome 45:485–492 Suda J, Kyncl T, Freiova R (2003) Nuclear DNA amounts in macaronesian angiosperms. Ann Bot 92:153–164 Tang TZ, Niu YZ, Shu HX (2006) Cytological observation on intergeneric hybrid between Brassica chinensis and Crambe abyssinica. Hereditas (Beijing) 28(2):189–194 Ul’chenko NT, Bekker NP, Glushenkova AI, Akhmedzhanov IG (2001) Lipids of Crambe kotschyana and Megacarpaea gigantea Seeds. Chem Nat Comp 37:285–286 Umarov A, Chernenko T, Markman A (1972) The oils of some plants of the family Cruciferae. Chem Nat Comp 8:20–22 Umarov A, Kisapova N (1973) The seed oils of Erysimum silvestris and Crambe amabilis. Chem Nat Comp 9:99–100 Wang YP, Luo P, Li XF (1995) Preliminary study on Crambe abyssinica. Acta Bot Yunannica 17:169–174 Wang YP, Luo P (1998) Intergeneric hybridization between Brassica species and Crambe abyssinica. Euphytica 101:1–7 Wang YP, Tang JS, Chu CQ, Tian J (2000) A preliminary study on the introduction and cultivation of Crambe abyssinica in China, an oil plant for industrial uses. Ind Crops Prod 12:47–52 Wang YP, Sonntag K, Rudloff E (2003) Development of rapeseed with high erucic acid content by asymmetric somatic hybridization between Brassica napus and Crambe abyssinica. Theor Appl Genet 106:1147–1155 Wang YP, Snowdon RJ, Rudloff E, Wehling P, Friedt W, Sonntag K (2004) Cytogenetic characterization and fae1 gene variation in progenies from asymmetric somatic hybrids between Brassica napus and Crambe abyssinica. Genome 47:724–731 Wang YP, Sonntag K, Rudloff E, Wehling P, Snowdon RJ (2006) GISH analysis of disomic Brassica napus-Crambe abyssinica chromosome addition lines produced by micro-

E. Rudloff and Y. Wang spore culture from monosomic addition lines. Plant Cell Rep 25:35–40 Warwick SI, Black LD (1997) Phylogenetic implications of chloroplast DNA restriction site variation in subtribes Raphaninae and Cakilinae (Brassicaceae, tribe Brassiceae). Can J Bot 75:960–973 Warwick SI, Francis A, LaFleche J (2000) Guide to wild germplasm of Brassica and allied crops (tribe Brassiceae, Brassicaceae), 2nd edn. AAFC-ECORC Contribution No XXXX. http://www.brassica-resource.org/data/pdf/brass00. pdf. Accessed 22 Feb 2010 Warwick SI, Gugel RK (2003) Genetic variation in the Crambe abyssinica – C. hispanica – C. glabrata complex. Genet Resour Crop Evol 50:291–305 Warwick SI, Al Shehbaz IA (2006) Brassicaceae: chromosome number index and database on CD-Rom. Plant Syst Evol 259:237–248 Warwick SI, Francis A, Al Shehbaz IA (2006) Brassicaceae: species checklist and database on CD-Rom. Plant Syst Evol 259:249–258 Watson L, Dallwitz MJ (1992) The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 25th Nov 2008. http://delta-intkey.com/ angio/images/cruci226.gif. Accessed 12 Feb 2009 White GA, Solt M (1978) Chromosome numbers in Crambe, Crambella, and Hemicrambe. Crop Sci 18:160–161 White GA, Gardner JC, Cook CG (1994) Biodiversity for industrial crop development in the United States. Ind Crop Prod 2:259–272 Wink M (2007) Importance of plant secondary metabolites for protection against insects and microbial infections. In: Rai M, Carpinello M (eds) Naturally occurring bioactive compounds, vol 3, Advances in phytomedicine. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 251–268 Zimmermann H-G (1963) Die Sitzfestigkeit der Fr€uchte der Krambe (Crambe abyssinica Hochst.) und ihre Pr€ufung. Theor Appl Genet 33:190–196

Chapter 6

Cuphea Jan Olejniczak

6.1 Introduction Cuphea is a New World genus and the largest of the 32 genera of Lythraceae (Graham et al. 1981), with about 600 species of herbaceous perennials and small shrubs. Many of these species have seed oil that is rich in medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), as well as lauric (C-12:0) and myristic acid (C-14:0). These fatty acids are important to the chemical industry for the produce of detergents, surfactant, lubricants and other products. Cuphea also has the potential to replace coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) and palm kernel (Elaeis guinaaesis Jacq.) important in the world. Modern studies on systematics in Cuphea plants rely upon many sorts of comparative data, such as morphological, cytological, biochemical and molecular relationships. Recently, attention has been focused on the domestication of the species within the genus Cuphea. Cuphea generally exhibits characteristics that are typical of undomesticated plants, such as indeterminate pattern of flowering and growth, seed shattering from ripening fruit, seed dormancy, viscid and glandular hairs on stems, leaves and flowers. These traits are major constraints to agricultural use. Several breeding methods (e.g., mutation, interspecific crossing), culture in vitro, and modern biotechnology have been attempting to remove these limitations to domestication and production of Cuphea. Recently, molecular markers have entered the scene of genetic improvement of alternative oil crops, including Cuphea. Among the major traits targeted for domesti-

J. Olejniczak Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Strzeszynska 34, Poznan´ 60-479, Poland e-mail: [email protected]

cation in oil breeding programs are dormancy, shattering, indeterminate growing and flowering. For new industrial crops, which will be commercialized, many technical, ecological and economic constraints must be overcome. However, little is known about the best agricultural management practices for their production. Several agronomical studies have been conducted to determine the adapted areas: seeding rate, sowing date, row spacing, weed control, water requirements, and harvest procedure. Production and research of Cuphea will also require a growth staining system for proper crop management regarding timing for herbicide control, insecticide and fungicide treatment of applications. Development of a crop such as Cuphea, which can be integrated into sustainable agricultural production systems, supports the achievements of national rural development and environmental quality objectives. Gene flow between Cuphea and their wild relative Lythrum is an important process that has strong implications for both conservation of genetic diversity and for plant breeding. Understanding how to manage and use the new oil crops, including Cuphea, is a complex task, and it is important to minimize the economic and environmental risks, and to maximize the benefits to farmers and consumers.

6.2 Systematic Botany The Lythraceae are a moderate-sized family (Myrtales), a family of 32 primarily subtropical and tropical genera. Only Lythrum is of warm to cool temperature in range. The species of Cuphea in the Antilles have extensive ranges and distributions elsewhere in the


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New World tropics and subtropics. Numerous collections are known from Australia and the islands in the Pacific. The genus of Lythrum extensive range extensively in the New World, Eurasia, and in areas of Europe. The biogeographic patterns of the Lythraceae have been established following multiple changes, and long-distance dispersal events from multiple directions (Graham et al. 1993).

6.2.1 Morphological Phylogenetic Analysis Cuphea is a New World genus and the largest of 32 genera of Lythraceae (Graham et al. 1993), with about 600 species of herbaceous perennials, and small shrubs. As traditionally circumscribed (Koehne 1903), the family comprises 28 genera and is easily recognized by a suite of characters: opposite entire leaves; a persistent perigynous campanulate to tubular floral tube with crinkled petals inserted at the rim; two whorls of stamens inserted in the tube; and a many seeded capsular fruit. The genera are clearly delimited and are regarded as monophyletic. The genus is recognized by the ribbed

J. Olejniczak

floral tube, which terminates in six dilated calyx lobes, and especially by a unique seed dispersal mechanism. Cuphea seeds are exposed for dispersion of a placenta that becomes exerted through matching longitudinal slits in the adaxial (dorsal wall of the capsule and floral tube). The current taxonomic classification of the Lythraceae (Koehne 1903) divided the narrowly circumscribed family into two tribes, each with two subtribes (Table 6.1). The classification is highly ambiguous, with the tribes and subtribes delimited by few non-exclusive characters. Further, Tobe et al. (1998) found the defining features of the tribes, the presence or absence of complete septal wall in the ovary, to be erroneous. Anatomical section indicated incomplete septal wall at the apex of the placenta in all genera, negating the sole basis for the primary division of the family. A morphological cladistic analysis of the Lythraceae did not recover clades equivalent to the tribal or subtribal groupings, nor did it produce wellsupported alternative relationships (Graham et al. 1993). The evolution of several characters of taxonomic importance in the Lythraceae has been exceptionally labile and complex. The presence of an inferior to semi-inferior ovary (the floral tubes epigynous or hemi-epigynous) was influential in recognition of

Table 6.1 Classification of the Lythraceae based on Koehne (1903) excluding unnamed series (Graham 1989) Classification and genera Defining characters Subfamily Sonneratioideae: Sonneratia Duabanga Subfamily Punicoideae: Punica Subfamily Lythroideae (Lythracea sensu stricte): Septum of the ovary interrupted or split above the placenta: the placenta is not with the style Tribe Lythreae: Seed without a marginal or, margined, the flowers always zygomorphic Subtribe Lythrineae: Seed dorsally compressed and by a wing: placenta of the mature fruit strongly depressed basal: flowers always actinomorphic Rotala, Ammanniia (Hionanthera), Peplis, Didiplis Septrum of the ovary complete, the placenta thus continuous with the style; flower always actinomorphic Lythrum, Woodfordia, Cuphea, Pleurophora Seed coat neither thickened nor winger Subtribe Diplusodontinae: Seed coat either extended as a wing or the apex truly spongy Galpinia, Pemphis,(capuronia), Diplusodon Prysocalymma, Lafoensia Tribe Nesaeeae: Subtribe Nesaeinae: Crencea, Nesaea, Heimia, Decodon, Pebria, Adenaria, (Koelnteria), (Laurtella), Tetrataxis, Ginoria, (Haitia) Subtribe Lagerstroemiinae: Lagersoemia, Lawsonia Genera in parentheses were described after 1903

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subfamilies of the Lythraceae. Cytological analyses indicate that the superior ovary (perigynous floral tube) is plesiomorphotic for the Lythraceae, having evolved on the branch leading to the family from an ancestor with an inferior ovary in an epigynous flower. Most genera of the Lythraceae have a superior ovary, with the staminal filaments emerging near the base of the ovary (Graham and Cavalcanti 2001). Pollen of Lythraceae is the most diverse of any family of the Myrtales. Patel et al. (1984) proposed a harmomegtic function for pseudocopoli suggestion, that evolution of pseudocopoli was radiation of lineages into wetter or arid habitat. However, in the Lythraceae, there is no distinction in genera habitat between genera with pseudocolpate versus non-pseudocolpate pollen. For systematics of Cuphea, pollen grains, seed coat and leaves have been investigated intensively so far and the first were described by Koehne (1881). In leaves, cuticular waxes and trichomes have been studied most frequently. Genus Cuphea exhibits a wide variety of floral morphologies, pollinations, and seed coats in approximately one of all the genera of the Lythraceae. Lythraceae are unique among all angiosperms in having inverted exotestal trichomes, formed by protrusion of a membranous into the cell lumens of an outer most seed coat cell layer (Graham 1995). The genus Cuphea have been grown for a long time, but even 40 years later new species continue to be discovered (Cavalcanti and Graham 2005). As the genus has become better known through sectional revisions, the classification has become more difficult to apply, and it is increasingly apparent that relationships

among the taxa implied by the classification are unsupportable. Pollen diversity, in section Melvilla for example, strongly suggests that this large section is a collection of species based on convergent floral morphology related to pollinator specialization. Species that share similar elongate, thick-bodied, intenselycolored floral tubes, a floral syndrome under selection to attract bird and large bee pollinators, fall into at least four very different pollen categories, each known from characteristics of other sections. Other relationships implied by the taxonomy are likely to be inaccurate, due to convergent floral morphology related to changes in the breeding system from outcrossing to self-fertilization. Section Brachyandra comprises species having pale green, very small flowers (3–8 mm long), with deeply included anthers and stigma characters, suggestive of self-fertilization. Species of the section have been confirmed as facultatively self-fertilizing, and a morphological phylogenetic analysis indicated that at least four distinct lineage groups constitute this section. Each lineage was defined by a unique combination of pollen and seed morphology, but shared the same homoplastic floral features (Graham et al. 1993). The questions of species relationships raised by morphological data, the degree to which the classifications reflect natural lineages, and hypotheses about the historical biogeography of the genus have yet to be examined using a date source other than morphology (Table 6.2). Modern studies in plant systematics rely upon many kinds of comparative data such as cytology, cytogenetics, metabolities and molecular studies, which are important source of information to depict evolution.

Table 6.2 Current and distribution of the genus Cuphea (Graham 1989) Subgenus Cuphea (LythroCuphea) Sect. ArchoCuphea – 3 ssp., NE Brazil, 1 widespread Sect. Cuphea (EnantiocCuphea) – 15 spp., Central America to Argentina, Antilles Subgenus Bracteolotae (EuCuphea) Sect. Heteranthus – 10 ssp., NW South America to South Mexico Sect. Melicyathium – 1 ssp., SE Brazil Sect. Brachyandra – 22 ssp., South America and widespread weeds Sect. Euandra – 74 ssp., primarily Brazil to Argentina Sect. Amazonia – 17ssp., Guianan and Amazonian region Sect. –Trispermum – 16 ssp., N. South America, including Amazon Sect. Pseudocircaea – 5 ssp., Brazil to Argentina and Bolivia Sect. Heteredon – 28 ssp., W. Mexico to Costa Rica Sect. Melvilla – 39 ssp., W. Mexico to South America Sect. Leptocalucx – 7 ssp., Mexico to Panama Sect. Diploptychia – 20 ssp., Mexico to Nicaragua Sect. OrnithoCuphea – 3ssp., W. Mexico

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6.2.2 Chromosomal Phylogenetics Studies Chromosome number is a well known source of information to clarify relationships at several taxonomic levels in plants. Chromosome numbers are generally stable, however, variations are witnessed during the evolutionary processes leading to speciation. Chromosomes of Cuphea are generally small, 1–3 mm in length, metacentric or submetacentric, and the meiotic metaphase I chromosomes are often globose. Meiosis is regular in diploids, but frequently irregular in polyploids. Clumping at metaphase I, presence of dark-staining and similarity in size of the chromosomes in some species make their counting difficult. In the family Lythraceae, a moderate sized patropical family of genera and about 600 species, chromosome number data have led to the determination of an original basic number of the family (Graham and Cavalcanti 2001). The basic chromosome number is an important factor to be accounted for in hypothesizing regarding phylogenetic relationship and evolutionary pathway among the genera, and also in considering the families of the order of Myrtales. Among the 78 species for which number is known, chromosome number ranged from 6 to ca. 56 (Graham and Cavalcanti 2001). The basic number for Cuphea is considered to be x ¼ 8. Tobe et al. (1998) have suggested two base numbers of Cuphea ranging from 4 to 6, and another yet older basic number of 5. If this were true, species with x ¼ 8 would actually be ancient tetraploid. In this case, the ancestral diploid state would appear to have become extinct because no species are known to have x ¼ 4, and only two species, the annual C. lanceolata and C. viscosissima of eastern Mexico and eastern United States, have x ¼ 6. Chromosome number has been surveyed across the genus Cuphea. Supernumerary chromosomes are present in several species of Cuphea, which also have 22 species with more than basic ploidy level. These genus appear to be in the middle of rapid evolutionary radiation, employing more than one mechanism of change. Specification in the genus Cuphea, based on clues from chromosome number including autopolyploidy, hybridization and alloploidy, disploidy, and caryological and cytogenetic analyses, is needed to be verified for further interpretations. Domestication of Cuphea may depend on combining of genetic mate-

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rial from different species through introgressive hybridization, and for this purpose, chromosome number data are a starting point for planning interspecific hybrid programs. The herbaceous genera Cuphea and Lythrum are chromosomally the most diverse genera in the family Lythraceae. The pattern of distribution of diploid versus polyploid numbers in Lythrum indicated the generic center of origin to be Circum-Mediterranean: all species with x ¼ 5 occur there. Knowledge of the origin of this genus and distribution of chromosome numbers among the species does not clarify the evolutionary history of heterostylous breeding system in Lythrum. Both homostylous and tristylous species exhibit the basic chromosome number of this genus. Among the 19 species, which are known chromosomally, seven are homostylous with haploid numbers of 5, 10, 15, and 20. From Europe and the Mediterranean, two Lythrum species have different numbers as well as Lythrium virgatum (n ¼ 15) and Lythrium salicaria (n ¼ 15, 25, 30), which are widespread in Europe and taxonomically not easy to be separated (Graham and Cavalcanti 2001). Further understanding of chromosomal change and evolution in the family Lythraceae, will depend on phylogenetic relationship, as well as cytological investigations, as different chromosome numbers occur. The meiotic analyses are valuable for the study of domestication of the genus and for clarification of the evolutionary relationships among taxa. The data on meiotic pairing included those on hybrids between different species, including triploid, tetraploid and other configurations of chromosomes (Gathman and Ray 1987). Meiotic analysis of two Cuphea hybrids showed different pairing of chromosomes: univalents (I), bivalents (II), trivalents (III) and tetravalents (IV) (Figs. 6.1 and 6.2) (Olejniczak 1996).

6.2.3 Biochemical Phylogenetics Studies Plant secondary metabolites have been widely used as taxonomic characters for comparisons in different genera of plants. Flavonoids have been more frequently used for comparisons at lower hierarchic levels such as genera and species. In spite of the widespread use of secondary metabolites in taxonomy, they have never achieved the same status as characters

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Fig. 6.2 Initial form C. tolucana, line 629 (C-5) and dwarf mutant (Olejniczak 1996)

Fig. 6.1 Taxonomic relationships in the genus Cuphea and the mains fatty acids. Characteristics of fatty acid for each section is in large type: Boxes are proportional to the size of the section (Graham et al. 1981)

for the establishment of phyletic relationships among plant taxa as macromolecules, such as proteins, fatty acids, sequence of nucleic acid, which have recently received much more attention in molecular systematics (Hillis et al. 1996). Relatively little is known about flavonoids’ distribution in the family Lythraceae. Graham et al. (1980) reported the flavonoids of Ammania coccinea; Blatt et al. (1994) on the flavonoids of 27 species of Diplusodon; Santos et al. (1995) on 16 species of Cuphea and Santos et al. (2000) on three species of Lafoensia. Assuming Cuphea as more advanced than Diplusodon, the following attributes that could be regarded as evolutionary advances of the flavonoid chemistry of the Lythraceae include (a) absence of glucuronic acid; (b) rare occurrence of glucuronic acid; (c) presence of methoxylated flavonoids, such as rhamnetin and isorhamnetin, and (d) more frequent occurrence of galactose glycosides.

However, the present knowledge of the chemistry of the Lythraceae is too sketchy to accept these assumptions as definite proof of either primitive or chemical advance in the family, because the differences observed between two genera might not be reproduced in other taxa with a similar distance of relative advancement. An intriguing aspect emerges, if one attempts to include the flavonoid pattern of Lafoensia into the cladogram, of bearing in mind the flavonoid of Cuphea and Diplusodon already commented upon. The flavonoid patterns of Lafoensia and Cuphea are substantially different, and up to the present, myricetin, O-methylated flavonols, and flavonoids with glucuronic acid are constituent flavonoids of Diplusodon and Cuphea. It becomes difficult tounderstand that such a simple flavonoid profile as that of Lafoensia in the simply topology Lafoensia should have some characteristics common to the other two genera. The flavonoid chemistry suggests that Lafoensia belongs to an evolutionary line different from Cuphea, or it is a more advanced group. However, interpretation from this flavonoid profiles is not compatible with the distribution of fatty acids in Lafoensia. Many species within the genus Cuphea (Lythraceae) produce seed with high levels of MCFAs. Composition of

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sequences from chloroplast and nuclear genomes, have substantially improved the general hypotheses.

6.3 Domestication

Fig. 6.3 Initial form, C. tolucana, line 629 (C-5) and compact mutant (9M) (Olejniczak 1996)

these fatty acids depends on taxonomic section (Fig. 6.3). The Cuphea pattern of seed fatty acids is regarded as a derived condition (apomorphy). Similar profiles have not been found in other genera of Lythraceae (Graham and Kleimann 1987). For the first attempt to construct a phylogenetic framework for Cuphea, data from nuclear internal transcribed sequence (ITS) sequence for 54 species and four outgroup taxa were analyzed by Graham et al. (2006). Independent results employing morphological and molecular data sets confirmed Cuphea as monophyletic with Pleurophora as sister. The ITS parsimony and maximum likelihood phylogenies indicated South America as the initial center of diversification, and identified a deep trichotomy, one branch of which was equivalent to subgenus Cuphea. The ITS analyses also recognized seven well supported clades, each composed of members from two to four taxonomic sections. The ITS analyses provided the initial phylogenetic hypotheses for the genus that clarify relationships previously obscured by the highly homoplastic nature of the morphological taxonomic characters. Molecular and morphological data have significantly widened the understanding of evolution and development of the family Lythraceae. The crown clades recovered by using parsimony and likelihood approaches on

Domestication is a selection process conducted by humans to adapt plants to the needs of humans whether as farmers or consumers. Cuphea domestication traits include increased seed or fruit size, more determinate growth and flowering; suppression of natural dispersal through shattering of seed; dormancy of seed; and self-incompatibility. These traits are major constrains to agricultural use. Several breeding methods (mutation, interspecific crossing), in vitro culture and biotechnology have been attempting to remove these limitations to domestication and production of Cuphea. Olejniczak (1996) selected different mutants and hybrids with change of MCFA spectrum (Table 6.3). Tissue culture techniques can also be used to micropropagate, as well as produce, high-yielding, somaclonal variants with extended genetic variability in Cuphea (Przybecki et al. 2001a, b). In vitro culture could also be adapted for both genetic transformation, and somatic hybridization studies to establish a basis for the hybridization of Cuphea, aimed at a long-term program for creating material of experimental and commercial interest. The total system of new crops, as well as Cuphea research and development, is composed of four major components of activities. The steps proceed in an essentially sequential fashion, but they are not discrete, and varying amounts of overlap may occur among them (Fig. 6.4). The first phases involve three major activities of the germplasm system – collection, evaluation, and enhancement and development. These three major activities involve the utilization of germplasm in cultivar development, which is intimately involved and development with agronomical evolution and the development of appreciate cultural and management systems. The last, but not least, involves an array of activities associated with full-scale commercialization. Types of activities and input of the various scientific disciplines and industrial components are indicated within each of the four areas of the total system, so that they are adaptable to agriculture use.

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123 Table 6.3 Composition of medium chain generation in seeds (Olejniczak 1996) Genotypes C. tolucana Line 629 Mutants 9 19 20 21 27 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 Xs C. wrigthii Line 651 Hybrid line 629 x 23 line 651 24 25 26 28 29 32 33 35 36 37 Xs

fatty acids (MCFAs) in mutant M5 and hybrids F5 C10:0 (%) 25.4 23.6 25.0 21.9 26.1 21.5 15.5 17.2 21.3 18.7 15.6 23.6 22.7 22.0 24.8 19.4 18.0 22.7 21.5 3.2 30 24.6 19.3 24.9 25.2 26.2 28 29.9 21 24.7 23.9 24.3 24.7 2.0

6.3.1 Shattering Seed shattering and dormancy usually determine the difference between undomesticated and domesticated forms and species. The wild progenitors of several crops, including wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), rice (Oryza sativa L.), oats (Avena sativa L.), and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) are characterized by seed shattering (Ladizinsky 1985). Non-shattering phenotypes are simply inherited in these species, and were presumably fortuitously discovered, selected, and fixed in populations sometime within the last 10,000 years. Seed shattering system is a taxonomic trait of all existing Cuphea species. Wild Cuphea species disperse seeds through a dorsal abscission layer along

C12:0 (%) 60.1 61.4 62.9 60.5 63.9 71.1 71.1 68.1 64.4 66.7 70.5 61.9 62.5 63.0 61.9 66.8 67.5 63.0 64.7 3.2 56.4 56.4 63.8 58.6 58 58.5 58.3 57.9 64.5 59.8 60.5 60.6 60.0 2.3

C14:0 (%) 3.9 4.1 3.7 4.6 4.1 4.5 4.5 4.6 3.9 4.9 4.8 4.2 4.0 4.4 3.9 4.8 4.9 4.2 4.3 0.4 3 3.9 4.2 4.4 4.2 4.3 4.1 2.5 4.2 4.3 4 3.9 3.7 0.3

the corona tube. The fully exposed seeds mature and dehisce after the placenta separates from the corolla tube. Following Vavilov’s idea of parallel variation of shattering, it is very difficult to select full non-shattering traits, although after crossing among different species, Knapp (1993) selected forms with partially improved shattering.

6.3.2 Dormancy Seed dormancy could be considered simply as a block to the completion of germination of an intact viable seed under favorable conditions, but it is one of the least understood phenomena in the field of seed

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Fig. 6.4 Metaphase I meiosis of hybrids F5 (C. tolucana 629 x C. wrighii 651:I-6, II-8, III-2, IV-1) (Olejniczak 1996)

biology. Seed dormancy is known to be a trait strongly influenced by environmental factors, and determined by seed coat embryo and endosperm factors. Olejniczak (1996) showed (Table 6.4) that mature seeds of Cuphea (i.e., with brown and black seed coat) germinate successfully after a few months’ of storage. However, it is still unclear, how seed dormancy is associated with coat color (Torada and Amano 2002). Dormancy decreases after ripening time but the rate varies between and within species and population. Genetic variation in other species (C. tolucana and C. wigthii) has been also reported by Olejniczak (1996). Use of mass selection in Cuphea greatly reduced seed dormancy. Treatment of immature seeds of Cuphea (green coat) with chemical mutagens noticeable stimulated germination and also induced mutation (Olejniczak 1996).

6.3.3 Morphological Traits Most wild plant species of Cuphea have a sticky coating on their stems, leaves and flowers, making harvesting of seed more difficult. Morphological studies

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have been carried out (Hirsinger and Knowles 1984; Olejniczak 1996) showing that the growth potential of Cuphea species is sufficient, and that using induced mutation and crossing, major wild plant characteristics, such as indeterminate growth and flowering, and seed setting and seed weight can be overcome. Koehne (1903) first described five Cuphea interspecific natural hybrids in Cuphea. Ro¨bbelen and Hirsinger (1982) observed spontaneous outcrossing among species in their germplasm collection. Many different hybrids were obtained by Olejniczak (1996). Different genotypes were selected with improved morphological traits (Figs. 6.5 and 6.6). Lorey and Ro¨bbelen (1984) attempted interspecific hybridization among 18 species, with five sections of the genus Cuphea, as well as among biogenetic groups characterized by different predominant fatty acids in seed oil. Reciprocal crosses were made between different species to assess them for Cuphea breeding programs. Mutation breeding and crossing in Cuphea has been suggested as a means of increasing genetic variability and selection, to overcome wild characteristics.

6.3.4 Molecular Perspective Arabidopsis and Cuphea disperse their seeds, but the pod shattering mechanism is known as fruit dehiscence. Recently, molecular genetic studies in Arabidopsis have identified the major genes that control fruit development, leading to a model for the regulatory interaction between genes that pattern on shattering. Valve margin of functionality in Arabidopsis required the activities of the functionally redundant SHATTERRPPOOF1 (SHP1), and SHATTEROOF2 (SHP2), protein member of the extended family of MADS (Ostergaard et al. 2006). This group showed also that ecotopic expression of the Arabidopsis FRUITFUL gene in Brassica juncea, is sufficient to produce pod shattering-resistant fruit, and that the genetic pathway leading to valve margin specification is conserved between Arabidopsis and Brassica. Genetic strategy for the control of seed dispersal will be applied to diverse Cuphea species to reduce seed loss. Konishi et al. (2006) reported the qSH1, a major quantitative traits loci controlling seed shattering in rice, demonstrated, that a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the 50 regulatory region of the qSH1 gene caused loss of seed shattering, owing

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Table 6.4 Germination rate (%) of Cuphea wrigthii line 651 seeds depending on color of coat and storage periods (Olejniczak 1996) Period of storage (months) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Light-green 0 0 0.7 39.3** 48.0** 69.3** 70 Dark-green 0 3 23.3** 83.3** 100.0** 90.7 90 Light-brown 0 2 28.0** 80.0** 98.0** 99 98 Middle-brown 0 4.7 55.3** 77.3** 99.3** 99.3 98.7 Dark-brown 0 6.7* 74.7** 79.3 99.7** 98.7 99.7 Black 0 8.7** 85.7** 84.7 98.7** 98.7 98.7 Significant P0.05 ¼ 6.60*; P0.01¼ 8.23**. Analyses was done in classes of coat color and between time of storage

Fig. 6.5 Metaphase I meiosis F4 (Mutant 1/186x C. procumbens): I-12, II-12, III-1, IV-1 (Olejniczak 1996)

to the absence of abscission layer formation. Use of FUL gene to control fruit opening and seed dispersal can be directly transferred from Arabidopsis into Cuphea, suggesting that biotechnology should be broadly applicable for controlling pod-shattering in Cuphea. The TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1) gene, and the two EMBRYONIC FLOWER (FMF) genes, EMF1 and EMF2, are involved in delaying vegetative to reproductive transition and floral initiation in Arabidopsis. Loss of function mutations in TFL1 gene shortens both rosette and inflorescence development (Bradley et al. 1997). Similar loss of function in EMF mutants display more dramatic phase-reduction phenotypes; there is no rosette shoot development, only a reduced

inflorescence with several flowers lacking petal is produced. Mutants of the TFL1 and EMF1 genes display another similar phenotype, the conversion of the inflorescence apex from indeterminate to determinate by production of a terminal flower (Chen et al. 1997). Flowering is controlled by a number of endogens and environmental factors. The environmental factors include day-length, and stress conditions, while the endogenous factors include age, circadian rhythm, hormone, sugar content, etc. The factors or signals are perceived and transmitted to the nucleus to cause a change in gene expression that would lead to flower development. In Arabidopsis, more than 50 genes have been identified that are involved in the signaling pathway of flowering development (Blasquez 2000). Shoot architecture and flowering time in angiosperms depend on the balanced expression of a large number of flowering time and flower meristem genes. Loss of function mutants in the Arabidopsis EMF gene causes elimination of rosette shoot growth, and transformation of the apical meristem from indeterminate to determinate by producing a single terminal flower on all nodes (Aubert et al. 2001). The early flowering transgenic plants with a determinate inflorescence and normal leaves demonstrated the role played by the EMF1 gene. The inflorescence development might be regulated by the level of EMF1 activity, as showed by various levels of RNA in the antisense transgenic plants with terminal flowers or determinate inflorescences (Aubert et al. 2001). Molecular characterization of these two genes, EMF1 and EMF2, has provided information on the mechanism of floral repression during vegetative development. It might be possible to engineer Cuphea plants with determinate flowering. Attempt to develop novel transgenic cCuphea will probably be done in the future.

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Germplasms Enchancement (new pools)

Cultivar Development

*taxonomic systematic

*increase variability

*plant breeding and

*ecological risk

*analyses of

- mutation

genetics

*economic

variability

-crossing

-selection of lines with

assessments

*selection of useful

-biotechnology

improved yield

-farmers

species

*selection of improved

*agronomic system

-industry

*yield trials

-consumers

Germplasms Collection

*storage and collection lines

Commercialization

*preliminary evolution by industry

Fig. 6.6 A generalized system for reasearch and development of Cuphea plants (Olejniczak unpublished)

Seed dormancy provides a mechanism for plants to delay germination until conditions are optimal for the survival of the next generation. Dormancy release is regulated by a combination of environmental endogenous signals, with both synergistic and competing effects. Molecular studies of dormancy have correlated changes in transcriptomes, proteomes, and hormone levels with dormancy states ranging from deep primary or secondary dormancy to varying degrees of release. However, a number of genes that influence the regulation of seed dormancy are known. Dormancy gene DELAY OF GERMINATION (DOG-1) is an alternatively spliced gene, which encodes a protein of unknown function. Mutant alleles of DOG-1 cause complete nondormancy indicating this gene to be absolutely required for seed dormancy induction (Schwab 2008). During the last few years, molecular studies have entered into the scene of genetic improvement of alternative oil crops including Cuphea.

6.4 Biosynthesis of Medium Chain Fatty Acids Gene sequences are rapidly accumulating for many commercially and scientifically important plants. These resources create the basis for developing sequence-based markers for mapping and tracking known (candidate) genes, thereby increasing the utility

of gene maps. Members of most of the gene families underlying the synthesis of seed oil fatty acids have been cloned from the medium-chain oilseed, Cuphea. Genes controlling the production of MCFAs are interesting for understanding this major variation in plant fatty acid synthesis and for genetically engineering the desired chain length in heterologous species. The effect of fatty acid composition, alternatively, may be more relative to the interaction of isoforms with enzymes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis, rather than with the fatty acid themselves. Although the critical role of ACP in fatty acid biosynthesis has been established, the role of the diverse number of isoforms has yet to be elucidated. Arabidopsis transgenic plants with a FatB gene, cloned from California Bay tree (Umbellularia californicia H.A.; Voelker et al. 1992), were able to accumulate up to 70% C-10:O and C-12:0 in the seed. Thioesterases cloned from different Cuphea species to transform oilseed plants have produced reduced MCFA. The conversion of Arabidopsis and canola to MCFA-producing plants, by transformation with thioesterase-encoding sequences, indicates that foreign enzymes can interact productively with heterologous fatty acid synthase systems. The spectrum of fatty acids present in the seed oil of transgenic plants, however, has not been strictly comparable to these of the MCFA-producing plants from which thioesterases were obtained even when the activity was massively over-production. For example, California bay accumulates 30% C-10:0 and

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60% C-12:0 in the seed but rapeseed plants engineered with the bay thioesterase produce up to 56% C-12:0: and no C-10:0 (Voelker et al. 1996). Similarly, the seeds of C. hookeriana contain 50% C-8:0 and 25% C-10:0, but transgenic rapeseed expressing the C. hookeriana fatty acyl-thioesterase gene produced seed oil with 12% C-8:0 and 27% C-10:0 (Dehes et al. 1996). The condensing enzymes that extend growing fatty acid chains, B-ketoacyl acyl carrier protein (ACP) syntheses (KAS) are the likely candidates to be codeterminants of chain length. A KAS with specificity for short and medium chains fatty acids might favor certain chain lengths by augmenting acyl-ACP pools that provide substrate for medium chain-specific thioesterases. Additionally, competition between thioesterases and KAS for a given acyl-ACP substrate might influence the rate of chain termination for that fatty acid. The increased C:10/C:12 ratio produced in Cuphea wrightii seed plastid incubations with cerulenin, a inhibitor of certain condensing enzymes, provides indirect support for the hypothesis that fatty acid phenotype is influenced by KAS activity. Genetic changes induced by domestication are generally not comparable with those currently brought about by genetic engineering (GE) as since they represent a loss of function, in contrast to the gain of function associated with genes introduced by GE. In addition, GE is not a faster and more precise alternative to traditional plant breeding. It is principally a powerful and useful way of generating additional genetic diversity that could be exploited later for crop improvement by the proven methods and techniques of plant breeding. The potential benefits of GE should be investigated on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the advantages or disadvantages of alternative technologies. Further advances will increase this technology on relevance of consumer and environmental friendliness. Potential solutions to some of these problems are being developed.

6.5 Impact of Genetically Modified (GM) Plants to Non-GM Plants The use of genetic modification techniques have increased the number of potential applications for alternative oil crops. However, it is important to

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address potential environmental concerns during the development of such crops although many potentially useful developments in oil crops have been made. Genetic modification has numerous potential applications in the improvement of crops for non-food uses. It has contributed to the production of new oil profiles with valuable industrial properties, by the introduction of single genes from wild species, for example, from Cuphea plants into oilseed rape, which produced MCFAs, reducing the use of petrochemically-derived oil. Environmental assessments are further complicated when considering the implication of GM plants, compared to naturally evolved systems. A particular response to non-food industrial crops on the ecosystem should also be considered for both GM and non-GM plants. This risk of gene transfer from Cuphea crops to related weedy species, as well as Lythrum depends very much on the plant itself. Cuphea has compatible indigenous related wild species in Europe, for example, Lythrum that could receive transgenes via pollen flow. The extent of outcrossing depends on climatic conditions, agricultural practices, viability of pollen, and viability of outcrossing partners. Many domesticated plants can hybridize with relatives when they are grown in proximity, and whatever genes the cultivated plant had can then be passed on to the hybrid. This applies equally to transgenic plants and conventionally bred plants, as in either case, there are advantageous genes that might have negative consequences to an ecosystem upon release. This is normally not a significant concern, despite fears over “mutant superweeds” overgrowing local wildlife: although hybrid plants are far from uncommon, in most cases these hybrids are not fertile due to polyploidy, and will not multiply or persist long after the original domestic plant is removed from the environment. In some cases, the pollen from domestic plants may travel many miles in the wind before fertilizing another plant. This can make it difficult to assess the potential harm of crossbreeding, as many of the relevant hybrids are far away from the test site. Among the solutions under study for this concern are systems designed to prevent transfer of transgenes, such as terminator technology, and the genetic transformation of the chloroplast only, so that the seed of transcendence plant would bear the transgene. With regard to the former there is some controversy that the technologies may be inequitable, and might force dependence upon producers for valid seed

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in the case of poor farmers, whereas the latter has no such concern, but has technical constraints that still need to be overcome. Outcrossing of transgenic plants not only possesses potential environmental risk, but it may also trouble farmers and food producers. Many countries have different legislations for transgenic and environmental plants, as well as the derived food and feed, and the consumers demand the freedom of choice to buy GMderived or conventional products. Therefore, farmers and producers must separate both production chains. This requires coexistent measures on the field level, as well as traceability measures throughout the whole food and feed processing chain. It can be interesting to investigate how the farmers can avoid outcrossing and mixing of transgenic and non-transgenic crops, and how processors can ensure and verify the separation of both the production chains.

6.6 Evolution of Domesticated Plants Plants evolutionary theory has been greatly enriched by the studies on crop species. Over the last century, important information has been generated on many aspects of population biology, specification, mutation, hybridization, polyploid and molecular genetics. Plant breeders regularly employ quantitative trait loci (QTL) analyses to tag the key genes regulating many agronomic traits, and evolutionary biologists have found the techniques to be valuable in identifying the genetics of important adaptive traits and reconstructing the speciation process. A considerable amount of work has been conducted to identify those QTLs associated with the process of crop domestication. One of the most striking findings in these studies is that a few major genes often influence a large amount of the genetic variability, even though a large number of genes may be affected by artificial selection during domestication (Wright et al. 2005). The process of domestication dramatically changed the performance and genetic architecture of ancestral species, through the process of hybridization and selection as originally described by Darwin (1859). Not all genetic variation is created similarly. Darwin first introduced the concept of evolution, and challenged the prevailing view that species were fixed

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entities with a single invariable genetic identify. The concept of natural selection pre-supposed that species were comprised of genetically variable individuals such that selection could act on them. The genetic variants differ in the alleles (version of genes) they carry. Alleles that are deleterious in terms of survival and reproduction of the organism will eventually be eliminated, while the alleles that are favorable or neutral will be perpetuated in the population. Recombination in natural population allows alleles that may be deleterious in one genetic background to be reassessed in a different genetic context. Over time, the alleles that are transmitted at high frequency across generations represent those with a substantial likelihood of contributing positively to organisms’ longterm viability in a viable environment. N. I. Vavilow, a Russian geneticist and biologist, was one of the first to explore and actively collect wild relatives and early landrace varieties as sources of genetic variation for the future of agriculture. His botanical collection expeditions amassed thousands of rare and valuable specimens. Vavilow’s concepts in evolutionary genetics, such as the law of homologous series in variation and the theory of centers of origin of cultivated plants, were major contributions to the understanding of the distribution around the world. Natural evolution of different species of Cuphea was established by natural crossing between cross-pollinated species (Koehne 1903). Spontaneous mutations also have a great role, particularly in self-pollinated Cuphea species. The potential for adaptive evolution in wild species is provided by standing genetic variation, compared to that from new mutation. The four types of evolutionary changes that might promote rapid evolution in introduced ranges are bottlenecks, hybridization, polyploidy, and stress-induced modification of genome. Domestication syndrome is associated with relative simplicity and involves comparatively few quantitative and qualitative genes with major phenotypic effects. For example, in a survey of different cereals, Ladizinsky (1985) found that seed dispersal was controlled by only one or a maximum of up to three major genes in several crops. He has also showed that the genes controlling domestication-related characteristics are frequently clustered or linked within the genome. It has been proposed that linkage of domestication traits would only have been advantages for the adaptation of outcrossing crops, as those crops are more

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likely to have suffered from the introduction of unadapted genes from crosses with the wild ancestors (Koinange et al. 1996). Triangle of U (UN 1935) is a theory about the evolution and relationships between members of the genus Brassica. This triangle shows three ancestral genomes, AA-, BB-, or CC-. These three species exist as separate species. Because such genetic and morphological variation has occurred as a result of natural interspecific hybridization, the remarkable diversity of Brassica is an excellent example for understanding how genetic and morphological variations have developed during the evolution of plant genomes. Natural evolution of the Cuphea kingdom has been going on since a long time, but it is only in the last three decades that the geneticist and breeders have been using different tools, and trying to domesticate these species all over the World.

6.7 Invasive Lythrum, a Close Relative to Cuphea The genera Cuphea and Lythrum are in a close relationship within the family Lythraceae based upon cytological and polygenetical pattern. Purple loosestrife (L. salicaria) is a European plant species that is now widespread also in the wetland areas of North America (Graham et al. 1993). Reportedly, it was introduced in the early1800s via ships, and is now widely cultivated for its ornamental and pharmacological values. There are many examples of invasive species causing damage to population of wild and domestication plants, and significant alteration of ecosystems. The destruction wrought by invasives occurs through predication, introduction of disease, competition for food and other resources, hybridization and habit degradation. These problems are likely to become graver with increasing global trade, global change and changing of land use pattern. These are especially relevant to wetlands, where much damage has been caused in the temperate areas. The actual impact of climatic change on plant distribution, whether the plants are native or exotic species, will depend on the biology of the species. The success and geographic range of plant populations may be influenced much by the changes in the distribution of precipitation during the year, as in the variation in

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the average amount of precipitation. Changes in temperature means extremes could also affect plant population. Climate change is expected to substantially alter biodiversity, causing changes in phenology, genetic composition and species ranges, and affecting species interactions and ecosystem processes (Myers et al. 2004). Most treatments of species’ response focus on native species, or on those for whom preservation is the primary concern. Invasive species will also responds to climate change, and their response will have ecological and economic implications. Many different wild species, for example Cuphea, have characteristics that are different from non-invasive species. Invasive plant species also often have characteristics that facilitate rapid range shift, such as dormancy, shattering of seed, and short time of maturing. Invasive species have been introduced in different ways; some nonnative species, for example, Lythrum and Heracleum, were intentionally introduced for beneficial purposes, and later they turned out to be invasive as superweeds. The Giant Hogweeds (Heracleum), a perennial plant native to the Caucasus Mountains (Sobisz 2007), was introduced as an agricultural crop into Europe in the 1940s, where its large biomass was ensilaged to provide fodder for livestock. Besides the ecological problems, (superweed) tall invasive hogweed species also represent a serious health hazard for humans. The plant exudes a clear water sap, which contains several photosensitizing furanocoumarin. When they come in contact with the human skin and in combination with ultraviolet radiation, these compounds cause burning of the skin. Invasive plant species inflict tremendous economic and ecological cost on agriculture and ecosystems. Environmental weed invasion is a widespread phenomena in the plant kingdom. Exotic plants introduced to a new region may or may not be adapted to a new environment they encounter. Exotic plants that become a permanent component of the flora of the new regions are referred to as naturalized plants. A small percentage of naturalized exotic plants earn the term of invasive plants. Invasive plants typically spread rapidly, and replace native vegetation in their new habitat. Giant foxtail, multiflora rose velvetleaf, hogweed, garlic mustard and possibly Cuphea are examples of exotics that have earned invasive status. Many invasive species behave differently in the region they colonize as compared to their native land. Thus, an introduced species

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that is aggressive and displaces native species in a new region may be much less competitive in its native range. These plants act as good neighbors in their native range, and do not dominate plant communities. The traditional explanation for this new-found aggressiveness is that in new territories the plant is released from the suppressive effect of natural enemies (insects, diseases). The foundation of classical biological control of native weeds range and introduce them as the natural enemies to the new territory of the plants. The focus of much of the research on invasive weeds has been species that are adapted to less disturbed habitats than agricultural fields. This would include prairies, rangeland, woodland, and wetland. Invasive plants reduce the value of these areas in many ways including (1) replacing native species and reducing diversity (garlic mustard); (2) interfering with recreation multiflora rose, and (3) eliminating food and nesting areas for wildlife (purple loosestrife). Invasion by wild species has been identified as a threat to biodiversity, second only to habitat loss. In addition, introduction of the species is perhaps the most permanent protection to native biodiversity and ecosystems processes.

6.8 Gene Flow Between Domesticated Crops and Wild Relative Species Along with other evolutionary forces including genetic drift, mutation, recombination and selection, the process of migration is affecting the variability in gene frequency in the natural population of plants. Difference between populations can be created by genetic drift because of complete or partial isolation, or by heterogeneous selection among different genes. Migration of individuals (e.g., seed) or gametes (pollen) between subpopulations counteracts this divergence between population, causing reduction in the genetic diversity between subpopulation and increasing the level of genetic diversity within subpopulations. Gene flow between wild and domesticated populations is likely to have been important following domestication, and would have partially restored the genetic diversity of domesticated populations (Badr et al. 2008). From the family Lythraceae, genus Cuphea contains, about 600 wild species native

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to North, Central and South America, but Lythrum species have a close relationship based on phylogenic analyses (Graham et al. 2006). Genus Lythrum is naturally distributed in Eurasia and Europe. Both of these wild species may cross in natural environmental conditions. This flow of gene from domesticated Cuphea crops may cause reduction in the genetic diversity of the wild population. Crops and their wild progenitors show marked phenotypic difference that have been referred to as the domestication syndrome. These differences result from natural or human selection pressures that are imposed at various stages of the plant under cultivation. In some cases, crossing between wild and domesticated populations can promote the development of weedy populations, which can be found in areas of cultivation in abandoned fields or in other distributed areas, e.g., roadsides, railsides, and these will be present as intermediate characters between the wild and domesticated crops. Gene flow between wild and domesticated populations is also limited by their phenology. Nevertheless, the reproductive and the propagation system of domesticated crops represent crucial factors that affect the rate of gene flow between the mentioned populations. Clearly, in an allogamous species, higher outcrossing results in much higher frequency of domesticated-to-wild hybridization as compared to autogamous species. Gene flow from wild to domesticated plant species has an important role in relation to the evolution of crop plants. After domestication, gene flow in the center of origin can partially resolve the low genetic diversity included in the first domesticated population. For instance, the difference between domesticated barley from the Himalayas and India, compared to the Near East germplasm, is probably due to the introgression from Asian populations of wild barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneus) after domestication (Salamini et al. 2002). Gene flow still plays an important role as a source of new alleles for domesticated crops, where traditional farming continues (Jarvis and Hodgkin 1999). Gene flow from domesticated to wild populations is also an important issue relative to the release of transgenic varieties because of the potential effect on the genetic diversity of wild relatives, and possibly the production of new aggressive weeds (superweeds). Several examples of intergeneric gene transfer between species of wild and

6 Cuphea

domesticated plants from the family Brassicaceae were observed (Ford et al. 2006). However, in some cases, domesticated crops and their progenitors belong to different biological species, in particular when domestication has involved polyploidization and/or interspecific hybridization. Useful traits from crops to domesticated wild plants from different taxa are still a big problem. However, modern biotechnological techniques, which do not depend on sexual transfer that occur in nature, overcome this sexual barrier by making gene transfer possible between unrelated species.

6.9 Utilization of Other Plant Genetic Resources The conservation, management and utilization of the plant genetic resources, also known as germplasm, form the basis for harnessing genetic diversity to create and sustain agricultural production system. Germplasm is both the genetic material (genes, group of genes, chromosomes), that controls heredity, and the development of tissues, organs and organisms that express the useful variation contained in that genetic material. Lauric and capric acids (medium-chain fatty acids) have several industrial, medical, and nutritional uses. Development of plants, such as Cuphea, that can be integrated into sustainable agricultural production systems, supports the achievement of national rural development and environmental quality objectives. Several others, especially palm, are mentioned in “economic botany” literature as a potential source of lauric oils although few of them seem to have attracted agronomists enough to collect information on yield. “Manicaria sacciera” (Gaert and Ynesia) Cilenda (O.S. Cook), whose fruit contains 35% kernel; and Schelea macrocarpia (Karsts,) Maxmiliana spp. and Boctris gaipaes (H.B.K.,) all of which have oil monocarps as well as kernels (Arkcoll and Aguiar 1984) have been included. Data on the yield of B. gaispaes are now being collected because the pulp oil appears to be worth developing. Unfortunately, this plant generally has a small kernel, with low oil (20.4%) and low lauric acid content (33.3%) (Hammond et al. 1982). However, the fruits are very variable, and some with large kernels have been seen. A number of dicotyle-

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dons from Lauriaceae and Miristicacea are also rich sources of lauric acid. Virola ssp. fruit consists of 82% kernel that contains from 60 to 74% oil, which typically has 73% myristic and 15–20% lauric acids. Several other trees are mentioned in the literature (Princen 1984), but like most of the above, they suffer from the logistical problems of collection from the wild, and slow growth and low yield, compared to the common plantation crops, such as coconut and oil palm. Synthetic fats and oil can of course be made from petrochemical feedstock. However, this is too expensive to be an attractive source, and the toxicological and nutritional consequences of the branched chain, and add-numbered carbon acid may contaminate the products. The properties of Cuphea oil make it ideal for overcoming the challenges of the existing biodiesel products, for the utilization of used vegetable oil for biodiesel is provenly efficient (Geller et al. 1999). Actually, biodiesel is now being made available and is sold commercially in some parts of the globe. The use of these as substitutes for fossil fuels can reduce the toxic air pollution in the environment. Biodiesel is also biodegradable in a short period. Up till now, biodiesel is generally more expensive to purchase than petroleum diesel, but can be made at home for a much cheaper price. This differential may diminish due to economies of scale of the rising cost of petroleum, and government subsidization favoring the use of biodiesel. Biodiesel is free from such substances as sulfur and aromatics, which are found in traditional petroleum. This fuel, like all other renewable energy sources, was developed specifically for enhancing the sustainability of our use of green energy resources (Olejniczak et al. 2006).

6.10 Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources Interest in the conservation of wild relatives of cultivated plants has increased considerably in the recent periods, and is recognized as one of the priority activities all over the world. Wild plants, for example, have to provide resources for the improvement of a lot of crop plants, for example, oil seed crops, and particularly for improvement of resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Genetic diversity provides plant breeders with the option to develop, through selection and

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breeding, new and more productive crops that are resistant to virulent pests and diseases, and adapted to changing environments. The concept of germplasm conservation demands that collection methods initially capture maximum variation, and subsequently, conservation and regeneration techniques minimize losses through time. Collection involves gathering samples of a species from populations in the field, or natural habitat, for conservation and subsequent use. The unit of collection may be botanically small seed, for example, Cuphea. In vitro collecting methods were also developed for Cuphea (Przybecki et al. 2001a, b). Among the various ex situ conservation methods are seed storage, field genebank and botanical gardens. Among the various ex situ conservation methods, seed storage is the most convenient for long-term conservation of plant genetic resources. This involves desiccation of seed to low moisture content and storage at low temperature, 5 C for Cuphea. Cryopreservation involves storage of plant material at ultra-low temperature, cell division and metabolic activities remain suspended, and the material can be stored without change for a long period of time.

6.11 Development for Commercialization The introduction of a new and improved agricultural plant, germplasm has been an ongoing process since the beginning of civilization. Although in early times, improvements were made through a simple selection based on individual observation, in our modern era such improvements are often the results of close cooperation among different disciplines, and among different government, industrial, and academic institutions. For new industrial crops and the use of traditional crops to be commercialized, many technical and economic constraints must be overcome, and the involvement of the public and private sectors is needed. The extent of this involvement and the speed at which new technologies will be developed and commercialized, will be influenced by many factors. Efficient data management is the key to any crop research or its promotion. Projects to develop novel crops are no exception. However, new crop development requires especially robust management, due to often insecure resourcing, the potentially narrow genetic base, uncertainty over

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intellectual property right issues, the need to document performance, and the risks for grower, promoter and regulatory agencies. Perception of a new crop’s potential may fluctuate with large external factors, such as progress with alternative sources of target products (Finlay 2004). Research support is highly sensitive to external circumstances, such as budgets, periodicity of crisis, such as the recent increase in oil price, or poor markets for crops currently in production, causing the grower to look for new crops or market solutions. Such projects, for example, novel oil crop Cuphea, may be suspended or downsized for extended periods. Given the uncertain prospect for new crops, robust data management can protect valuable knowledge over periods of inaction, and ideally, this should detail records of crosses, selection and evaluations. The characteristics of new crops are that, while intellectual property rights are problematic for established crops (Kimpel 1999), careful documentation of the crop development process will provide stakeholders’ prosperity, economically and ethically. As new crops typically have a short and limited history, information on expected performance is especially valuable. The foremost interest concerns yield and market value. The producers also need comprehensive information on management, including assessments of risk factors, such as from pests or drought. Buyers or processors may seek additional information on interaction of quality with growing conditions and management, and the regulators may require product safety or other topics. Efficient management of information can help ensure that stokeholders’ concerns are answered reliably and quickly, including performance attributes, and final yield. Agricultural research requires managing large sets of data (Olejniczak 1996; Olejniczak and Adamska 1999). Plant breeding requires tracking the performance of large numbers of genetically distinct plants or population. Agronomic studies often involve experiments conducted over multiple years and locations, with recorded data including management practices, weather conditions, nutrient levels in the plant and soil (Olejniczak and Adamska 2000), as well as the crop’s development and performance attributes, including final yield. An integrated information system differs from a database in the scope of data to be managed, and the emphasis on tools to facilitate the use of data for objectives, rather than the span of

6 Cuphea

multiple disciplines. Thus, integration involves joining together diverse types of data (Fig. 6.4) and integrating those data with analytical tools. Agricultural research often seeks to understand crop response in terms of genotypes, environments and management systems’ components. Ecophysiological models, which integrate knowledge on physiology, genetics, soil chemistry, and climatology can predict both crop performance and effects of crop on the environment, such as water and nutrient requirements and soil organic matter. Model applications are of potential interest to new oil crop management decisions, especially in relation to climatic risk. Information on agronomic management traditionally comes from field experiments at a limited number of localization; but geospatial tools increase options for analyzing crops’ response across environments (Olejniczak 1996).

6.12 Agricultural Production All of our existing major crop species have been through a continual process of domestication and production since the beginning of agriculture, more than 10,000 years ago (Gepts and Papa 2003). The surplus in the production of conventional cereals and oilseed in the world has stimulated interest in the development and production of crops for specific non-food use. Experimenting with an alternative crop, Cuphea, involves both risk and opportunities from the production and marketing standpoint. Information regarding alternative crops are limited especially when compared to that of prevailing crops, such as corn, wheat and soybean. Cuphea ssp. largely thrives in the tropical climates, but many of them are also well adapted to regions that are moist and temperate. Indeed, the small taproot characteristic of the species most likely limits their adaptation to wetter environment, and is perhaps a morphological trait, which induces wilting in the absence of water. A few Cuphea species have been found in more arid environments. Thick leaves or large taproots allow these species to cope with drought stress. Growing staging systems in crop are used for determination of application timings for post emergence herbicide, insecticide and fungicide, desiccation, swathing or direct harvest and for yield-loss chart for crop insurance. Berti and Johnson (2008)

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created a simple and descriptive growth staging system useful for individuals involved in Cuphea production. Only a few field experiments are known to identify the best agricultural conditions for Cuphea production. Gesch et al. (2006) assessed the impact of sowing date and row spacing on growth and seed yield of Cuphea in the northern Corn Belt of the United States. The researchers also found that Cuphea sown in wide rows compensated for seed yield by producing more branches and seed pod than when sown in narrow rows. The other known experiment examined the impact of depth and rate of sowing on seedling emergence and seed yield of Cuphea in Iowa (Roath 1998). However, Roath (1998) suggested that intensive rainfall events besides sowing and seed shattering late in the season can cause poor seed yield. Sowing early allows plants to transcend theoretical stages of development before the occurrence of lateseason water stress (Brenton and Gesch 2004). For future large-scale production, need exists to identify additional broad leaf weed control option and there is need to study Cuphea’s soil nutrient requirements. Improved harvest management to reduce moisture content of Cuphea seed can be reduced to about 20% following swathing and drying in the field for approximately 14 days. It is required to develop lines with higher shattering resistance and determinate growth habit in Cuphea. Besides, equipment and techniques for harvesting are required to be designed for combating shattering problems. Cuphea is very sensitive to competition from summer-growing weeds, and no research has been conducted previously on the tolerance of this broad leaf plant to herbicides. For this reason, Forcella et al. (2005) conducted a greenhouse study on a large number of preplant incorporated, pre-emergence and post-emergence herbicides for tolerance of Cuphea. The promising herbicides were thereafter tested in the field for 2 years. Only a few herbicides appeared suitable for Cuphea production. There were two suitable preplant incorporated herbicides (ethalfuralin and trifluralin), and one suitable pre-emergence herbicide (isoxaflutde). Knowledge that these herbicides can be used in Cuphea production will aid domestication and acceptance of Cuphea by policy makers, researchers and the oil companies. Field study was initiated in Minnesota (USA) to determine the impact of sowing date, row spacing on soil and water use, and rooting characteristics of Cuphea (Sharratt and Gesch 2004). This study indicated that

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biomass, seed yield, and water use a tendency for these plants to utilize water efficiently in seed production early in the spring. Significant effect of different irrigation levels of water in greenhouse conditions on agronomic traits and length of root systems was observed by Olejniczak and Adamska (2000). An alternative crop may make a contribution by increasing the diversity of the farm income base, spreading out risk, reducing weaknesses in the farm system or broadening the base of operations. Alternative crops such as Cuphea provide additional markets or greater profitability as compared to standard crops. They can also be included in crop rotation to break up insects, pests, weeds and disease cycles, to scavenge nutrition for other crops, to improve soil, tilt and fertility, or to clean up weedy fields. Most of the plants have already been adapted to European climatic conditions, with higher yield and well established systems for production, harvest and storage, and plant architecture using the different new technologies. Cuphea has become a viable crop in the United States and Europe, and an economic and reliable source of MCFAs from agriculture.

nate pattern of growth and flowering, seed shattering, seed dormancy, viscid and glandular hairs on stems, leaves, and flowers. Many breeding tools, such as mutagenesis and crossing, in vitro culture and biotechnology have been attempting to remove these limitations to domestication and production. Research and production of Cuphea will require a growth staging system for proper management regarding pest control, and application of herbicide and fungicide. Researchers in recent times have focused on non-shattering and non-dormancy development. Modern biotechnological tools have entered into the scene of improvement of oil crops including Cuphea, to solve the problems of dormancy, shattering and indeterminate growth and flowering. Introduction of new and improved agricultural germplasms has been an on-going process since the beginning of civilization. Although in the early ages, improvements were made through a simple selection, in our modern era such improvements are often the results of close cooperation among scientists of many emerging disciplines, and among many sectors, including government, industrial and academic institutions.

6.13 Conclusion

References

The genus Cuphea (Lythraceae) contains about 600 species native to North, Central and South America. Modern studies in Cuphea plant systematics rely upon many kinds of comparative data, such as on morphology, cytology, and biochemistry. A little over 100 crop species are now grown intensively around the world. Every crop plant cultivated today is related to a wild species occurring naturally in its center of origin, and progenitors of many of our crops are still found in the wild environment. Similar situations may also occur after the commercial production of Cuphea in America and Europe. Many of Cuphea species have the ability to synthesize and store MCFAs in their seeds. Some of these MCFAs, such as capric, lauric and myristic acids, are important in feedstock manufacturing, offering potential in the production of toothpastes, shampoos and detergents. Recent development has also proven that MCFAs are viable replacements for petroleum in uses such as motor oil and diesel fuel. Cuphea generally exhibits wild characteristics that are typical of undomesticated plants, such as indetermi-

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6 Cuphea Chen L, Cheng JC, Castle L, Sung ZR (1997) EMF genes regulate Arabidopsis inflorescence development. Plant Cell 9:2011–2024 Darwin C (1859) On the origin of species by means of natural selection. John Murray, London, UK Dehes K, Edwards P, Hayes T, Cranmer AN, Fillatti J (1996) Two novel thioesterase are key determinants of the bimodal distribution of acyl chain length of Cuphea palustris seed oil. Plant Physiol 100:203–210 Finlay MR (2004) Old efforts at new uses: a brief history of chemurgy and the American search for biobased materials. J Ind Ecol 7:33–46 Forcella F, Gesch RW, Isbell TA (2005) Seed yield, oil and fatty acids of Cuphea in Northwestern Corn Belt. Crop Sci 45:2195–2202 Ford CS, Allainguillaume J, Chantler PG, Cuccato G, Allender CJ, Wilkinson MJ (2006) Spontaneous gene flow from rapeseed (Brassica napus) to wild Brassica oleracea. Proc R Soc B 273:3111–3115 Gathman AC, Ray DT (1987) Meiotic analysis of 14 Cuphea species and two interspecific hybrids. J Hered 78:315–318 Geller DP, Goodrum JW, Knapp SJ (1999) Fuel properties of oil from genetically altered Cuphea viscosissima. Ind Crop Prod 9:85–91 Gepts P, Papa R (2003) Possible effects of (trans) gene flow from crops on the genetic diversity from landraces and wild relatives. Environ Biosaf Res 2:89–103 Gesch RW, Cermak SC, Isbell TA, Forcella F (2005) Seed yield and oil content of Cuphea as affected by harvest date. Agron J 7:817–822 Graham SA (1995) Innovative seed morphology in Lythraceae. Am J Bot 82:132 (Abstr) Graham SA, Cavalcanti TB (2001) New chromosome counts in the Lythraceae and a review of chromosome numbers in the family. Syst Bot 26:445–458 Graham SA, Crisci JV, Hoch PC (1993) Cladiscic analysis of the Lythraceae sensu lato based on morphological characters. Bot J Linn Soc 113:1–33 Graham SA, Freudenstein J, Luker M (2006) A phylogenetic study of Cuphea (Lythraceae) based on morphology and nuclear rDNA, ITS sequences. Syst Bot 31:764–778 Graham SA, Hirsinger F, Ro¨bbelen G (1981) Fatty acid of Cuphea seed lipids and their systematic significance. Am J Bot 8:908–917 Graham SA, Kleimann R (1987) Seed lipids of the Lythraceae. Biochem Syst Ecol 15:433–439 Graham SA (1989) Revision of Cuphea sect. Leptocalyx (Lythracaea) Syst Bot 14:43–76 Graham SA, Timmermann BN, Mabry TJ (1980) Flavonoids glycosides in Ammania (Lythraceae). J Nat Prod 34:644–645 Hammond EG, Pan WP, Mora Urpi J (1982) Fatty acid composition and glyceride structure of the mesocarp and kernel oils of the palm (Bactris gasipaes H.B.K.). Rev Biol Trop 30: 91–93 Hillis DM, Moritz G, Mable BK (1996) Molecular systematics. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland Hirsinger F, Knowles PF (1984) Morphological and agronomic description of selected Cuphea germplasm. Econ Bot 38:439–451 Jarvis DI, Hodgkin T (1999) Wild relatives and crop cultivars: detecting natural introgression and farmer selection of new

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Chapter 7

Diplotaxis Domenico Pignone and Juan B. Martıńez-Laborde

7.1 Basic Botany of the Species The genus Diplotaxis DC. (family Brassicaceae, tribe Brassiceae) comprises 32 (Warwick et al. 2006) to 34 species (listed in Table 7.1) plus several additional intraspecific taxa, native to Europe, the Mediterranean region, Southwest Asia (up to the Himalayas), and Macaronesia, with the highest diversity in the Iberian Peninsula, Northwest Africa, and Cape Verde archipelago. A few species have become naturalized elsewhere (North and South America, Australia, etc.). The genus displays a considerable degree of heterogeneity in morphology, molecular marker profiles, chromosome numbers, and geographical amplitude.

7.1.1 Morphology Diplotaxis species are mostly herbaceous annuals, with a group of perennials or subshrubby taxa with a more or less woody base. The perennials are D. ibicensis, D. tenuifolia and the D. harra aggregate that includes the closely related species from Cabo Verde – D. antoniensis, D. glauca, D. gorgadensis, D. gracilis, D. hirta, D. sundingii, D. varia, and D. vogelli, as well as D. kohlaanensis from Yemen and D. nepalensis from Nepal; D. ibicensis and D. tenuifolia. Only in D. tenuifolia the roots produce adventitious buds from which new shoots arise (Caso 1972). Trichomes are always simple, patent or retrorse, abundant or scarce

D. Pignone (*) CNR-Institute of Plant Genetics, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy e-mail: [email protected]

on stems, leaves, pedicels, and sepals. The leaves tend to have a pinnatifid or pinnatisect blade, though in a few cases they are subentire to shallowly lobed. Upper cauline leaves are sometimes different from the basal or median ones; they are remarkably sessile, with a broad (in D. erucoides) or even clasping (in D. assurgens and D. tenuisiliqua) base. The flowers form terminal racemes with fruiting racemes rather long. Bracts are rarely present, and always confined to one to a few basal flowers of the raceme. Pedicels are rather thin and erect-patent to patent, but remarkably thick and appressed in D. assurgens. Lateral sepals are somewhat saccate at base, while the median ones are moderately to markedly cucculate at apex. Petals may be white (D. erucoides subsp. erucoides), violet (subgen. Hesperidium), or yellow (in most species, including 2–3 taxa with pale yellow petals). The petal limb may contract rather abruptly into a claw with parallel margins (in sections Rhynchocarpum and Heterocarpum), or taper gradually towards its base, forming a poorly defined claw with more or less converging margins (in section Heteropetalum and subgen. Diplotaxis). Petal venation was found to vary in a meaningful way within the tribe Brassiceae by Munõz and Bermejo (1980), who adapted the terms employed by Hickey (1973) for types of leaf venation to petals. In Diplotaxis, most species show one of two well-defined patterns (Martıńez-Laborde 1992): petals are brochidodromous (i.e., all secondary veins anastomose in one or more series of prominent loops or arches, forming a rather dense pattern) in most taxa of subgenera Diplotaxis and Hesperidium, as well as in section Heteropetalum, and cladodromous to eucamptodromous (i.e., secondary veins ramify towards the margin, sometimes curving up, never or very rarely anastomosing to form


137

D. Pignone and J.B. Martıńez-Laborde

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Table 7.1 Species and subspecies of Diplotaxis arranged according to the subgenera (SG) and sections (S) proposed in G omezCampo and Martıńez-Laborde (1998), their known diploid chromosome numbers (2n) and geographical areas SGa

Sb

D

H R

Rh

Hc

Hp

a

Species (and subspecies)

2nc

Geographical aread

D. tenuifolia (L.) DC. D. cretacea Kotov D. muralis (L.) DC. subsp. muralis subsp. ceratophylla (Batt.) Mart.-Laborde D. scaposa DC. D. simplex (Viv.) Spr. D. viminea (L.) DC. D. harra (Forssk.) Boiss. subsp. harra subsp crassifolia (Raf.) Maire subsp. lagascana (DC.) O. Bolo`s & Vigo D. kohlaanensis A. G. Miller & J. Nyberg D. villosa Boulos & Jall. D. pitardiana Maire D. nepalensis Hara D. antoniensis Rustan D. glauca (J.A. Schmidt) O.E. Schulz D. gorgadensis Rustan subsp. gorgadensis subsp. brochmannii Rustan D. gracilis (Webb) O.E. Schulz D. hirta (A. Chev.) Rustan & Borgen D. sundingii Rustan D. varia Rustan D. vogelli (Webb) Cout. D. acris (Forssk.) Boiss. D. griffithii (Hook.f. & W. Thomps.) Boiss. D. assurgens (Delile) Grenier D. berthautii Braun-Blanq. & Maire D. brachycarpa Godron D. catholica (L.) DC. D. ollivieri Maire D. siifolia Kunze subsp. siifolia subsp. bipinnatifida (Coss.) Mart.-Laborde subsp. vicentina (Sampaio) Mart.-Laborde

22 (Harberd 1972) 22 (Harberd 1972)

Europe, Middle East* Ukraine

42 (Harberd 1972) – 22 (Harberd 1976)e 20 (Harberd 1972)

Europe* N Algeria Island of Lampedusa N Africa Europe, N Africa, Middle East*

26 (G omez-Campo 1980) 26 (Harberd 1972) 26 (Harberd 1972) – – – – – 26 (Harberd 1972)

N Africa, Middle East Sicily SE Spain Yemen Jordan NW Africa Nepal Cape Verde Cape Verde

– 26 (fide Rustan 1996) 26 (Rustan 1996) 26 (Rustan 1996) 26 (Rustan 1996) – – 22 (Amin 1972) – 18 (Harberd 1972) 18 (Takahata and Hinata 1978) 18 (Martıńez-Laborde 1988a) 18 (Harberd 1972) –

Cape Verde Cape Verde Cape Verde Cape Verde Cape Verde Cape Verde Cape Verde N Africa, Middle East (to Iraq) Afghanistan, Pakistan Morocco S Morocco N Algeria Iberian Peninsula, N Morocco S Morocco

20 (Harberd 1972) – 20 (Fernandes and Queir os 1970–1971)

Iberian Peninsula, NW Africa S Morocco SW Portugal

18 (Harberd 1972) – 18 (Harberd 1972) 16 (G omez-Campo 1980) 16 (Martıńez-Laborde 1991b) 16 (Martıńez-Laborde 1991b)f

N Morocco, NW Algeria S Morocco Iberian Peninsula, Morocco E Spain coast, Balearic Islands NE Morocco, NW Algeria E Spain

16 (Takahata and Hinata 1978)

Island of Alboran

14 (Harberd 1972) 14 (G omez-Campo 1980)g

Europe, N Africa, Middle East* N Algeria

D. tenuisiliqua Delile subsp. tenuisiliqua subsp. rupestris (J. Ball) Mart.-Laborde D. virgata (Cav.) DC. D. ibicensis (Pau) G omez-Campo D. brevisiliqua (Coss.) Mart.-Laborde D. ilorcitana (Sennen) Aedo, Mart.-Laborde & Munõz Garm. D. siettiana Maire D. erucoides (L.) DC. subsp. erucoides subsp. longisiliqua (Coss.) G omez-Campo

D: subgen. Diplotaxis; H: subgen. Hesperidium (O. E. Schulz) Ne`gre; R: subgen. Rhynchocarpum (Prantl) Mart.-Laborde Rh: section Rhynchocarpum; Hc: section Heterocarpum Mart.-Laborde; Hp: section Heteropetalum Mart.-Laborde c Only one reference is given. Some chromosome numbers were reported under a different name or synonym, but only those not based on the same basionym are further clarified in footnotes e–g d Some taxa, indicated with (*) have, in addition, become naturalized in other continents e sub. D. pitardiana (see Martıńez-Laborde 1990) f sub D. gomez-campoi Mart.-Laborde g sub D. virgata subsp. cossoniana (Reut.) Maire & Weiller b

7 Diplotaxis

arches and yielding a more or less loose pattern), in sections Rhynchocarpum and Heterocarpum. There are always six stamens (two shorter and lateral plus four longer and median); lateral stamens of D. viminea have notably small and probably sterile anthers. There are four nectaries: two are more or less ovoid, located between each pair of median stamens, and the other two are cushion-like, flat at the top, located on the inner side of each lateral stamen. The pistil is linear to more or less elliptical, slightly to shortly stipitate at base, with a bilobate or decurrent stigma. The fruit is always a silique, with considerable variation regarding position, length, and width, and proportional size of its parts. Siliques are generally erect-patent (sometimes tending to patent); erect to appressed siliques are characteristic of D. assurgens, whereas in D. harra, as well as in some of the closely related taxa from Cape Verde and at least partly in D. kohlaanensis, are patent to hanging. There is always a carpophore at the base, which is rather inconspicuous (less than 0.5 mm long, or even subnull) in most species but can achieve 1–5 mm in D. tenuifolia, D. harra aggregate, D. acris, and D. griffithii. The valvular portion, corresponding to the development of the ovary after fertilization, is generally linear to narrowly elliptical to lanceolate in outline, though in some species this shape is slightly (D. tenuisiliqua) to markedly (D. brachycarpa, D. berthautii) oblanceolate to obovate. It is always dehiscent and consists of two locules (separated by a false septum or dissepiment), which allocate all or most of the seeds. Seeds in this segment show the typical arrangement of two rows of seeds in each locule, explicitly alluded to in the ethymology of the generic name Diplotaxis (gr. dipl oos, diplo^ us ¼ double; gr. ta´xis, -eos ¼ arrangement). However, the number of seed rows in the locule seems to depend on seed size and varies among species. Thus, fruits of Diplotaxis siifolia may have one row per locule, whereas those of D. harra, D. acris, or D. siettiana generally show 3(–4) rows of seeds per locule. The valves can be more or less flat or rather convex, keel-shaped, and vary from almost smooth to more or less torulose. The distal, stylar segment, usually called the beak, is a key organ in the morphological characterization and variation of the tribe Brassiceae, since most genera of the tribe have heteroarthrocarpous fruits:

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the stylar segment is hollow and holds one to several seeds (Appel and Al-Shehbaz 2003), and in some genera (Crambe, Raphanus) can even be the only seed-containing part of the fruit. The adaptive and evolutionary meaning of such trait is a matter of debate (Hernańdez Bermejo and Clemente Munõz 1977; Appel 1999; G omez-Campo 1999; G omez-Campo and Prakash 1999). In Diplotaxis (as in Brassica), both heteroarthrocarpous and non-heteroarthrocarpous fruits coexist: all species in subgenera Diplotaxis and Hesperidium have fruits with aspermous (seedless) beak, whereas in subgenus Rhynchocarpum species of sections Rhynchocarpum and Heteropetalum have 1–2 seeds in the (oligospermous) beak and those of section Heterocarpum may show either type of fruit. The seeds are always rather small (0.6–1.3 mm long), and ovoid to ellipsoid in shape, with the exception of D. siifolia, which has spherical seeds, more similar to those of Brassica or Sinapis.

7.1.2 Geography There is a considerable degree of endemicity in the genus, combined with several widely distributed species (Table 7.1). All the eight species from Cape Verde Islands are narrow endemics only found in one or two islands (Rustan 1996). In the D. harra aggregate, other endemics are D. kohlaanensis (Yemen), D. villosa (Jordan) and D. nepalensis (Nepal), whereas D. harra extends from Morocco to Pakistan (Jafri 1973), with two local endemic subspecies (subsp. crassifolia endemic to Sicily and subsp. lagascana endemic to SE Spain; Martıńez-Laborde 1991a). Both D. acris and its close relative D. griffithii have rather wide geographical areas: D. acris ranges from South Algeria to the Middle East and Iraq, while D. griffithii extends across Afghanistan and Pakistan (Jafri 1973). While D. simplex extends across North Africa, and D. tenuifolia, D. viminea, and D. muralis subsp. muralis are widely found in most central and South Europe and the Near East, D. cretacea is only known from Ukraine, D. pitardiana extends regionally in South Algeria, South Morocco, and Mauritania, and D. muralis subsp. ceratophylla is endemic to Northeast Algeria (D. scaposa, of uncertain status, has only been reported from the island of Lampedusa). In the

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subgenus Rhynchocarpum, all the four species of section Heterocarpum show remarkably narrow geographical ranges: D. ilorcitana on SE Spain, D. brevisiliqua on Northeast Morocco and Northwest Algeria, D. ibicensis on a few Balearic Islands and nearby Iberian coast, and the most strikingly narrow endemic in the genus D. siettiana, only known to grow in the very small island of Alboran (Martıńez-Laborde 1991b, 1998). In section Heteropetalum, D. erucoides subsp. longisiliqua is limited to Northeast Algeria, while D. erucoides subsp. erucoides is widely circumMediterranean (southwards reaching Ethiopia). In the section Rhynchocarpum, most species have a medium range, spreading across extensive areas of the Iberian Peninsula (Diplotaxis catholica), Morocco (D. assurgens, D. berthautii, D. tenuisiliqua), or both (D. virgata, D. siifolia); D. ollivieri and D. brachycarpa have, however, narrow areas, in South Morocco and North Algeria, respectively. A few Diplotaxis species have widely transgressed their original boundaries and became naturalized in North Europe but also in remote continents. The two related taxa D. tenuifolia and D. muralis subsp. muralis are found in North America (Rollins 1993), South America (Brako and Al-Shehbaz 1993; MartıńezLaborde 1999), and Australia (Hewson 1982), and the latter also in South Africa (Marais 1970), India (Henry and Janarthanam 1993) and China (Taiyan et al. 2001), whereas D. erucoides subsp. erucoides has been reported from North and South America (Rollins 1993; MartıńezLaborde and Meńdez 2001). All Diplotaxis species are, more or less, ruderal and commonly found along roads or on periurban or otherwise altered locations, as well as on cultivated fields. Both D. muralis subsp. muralis and D. tenuifolia are successful colonizers (Eschmann-Grupe et al. 2004), and the latter is considered as an annoying weedy invader in Argentina (Caso 1972), whereas D. erucoides subsp. erucoides is rather a common weed in vineyards and other crops (Farre´ and Sebastia´ 1992; Sans and Bonet 1993; Sans and Masalles 1994). Varying degrees of seed dormancy – rather easily overcome by gibberellic acid (GA3) applications – were found in different populations of D. virgata and D. erucoides subsp. erucoides (Pe´rez-Garcıá et al. 1995; Pita Villamil et al. 2002; Martıńez-Laborde et al. 2007).


7.1.3 Cytology, Cytodemes, and Reproductive Biology Chromosome numbers are known for most taxa, as recorded in Table 7.1, and indicate that practically the whole genus is diploid. Polyploidy is practically absent within Diplotaxis, but instead there is a remarkable degree of disploidy. The series of gametic numbers ranges from n ¼ 7 in D. erucoides, through n ¼ 8, 9, 10 and 11, to n ¼ 13 in the D. harra aggregate, whereas D. muralis has n ¼ 21, the only species in the genus with a higher ploidy level. According to Harberd and McArthur (1972), D. muralis would be an amphidiploid probably arisen from D. tenuifolia (n ¼ 11) and D. viminea (n ¼ 10), a hypothesis strongly supported by isozyme (Eschmann-Grupe et al. 2003; Sańchez-Ye´lamo and Martıńez-Laborde 1991; Warwick and Anderson 1997), seed protein (Sańchez-Ye´lamo et al. 1992), and flavonoid (Sańchez-Ye´lamo 1994) analyses, as well as by intersimple DNA sequence repeat markers (Martıń and Sańchez-Ye´lamo 2000). On the other hand, isoelectric focusing (IEF) pattern of Rubisco (Mummenhoff et al. 1993), as well as random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis (Eschmann-Grupe et al. 2003) confirm D. viminea as the maternal parent and allow for either D. tenuifolia or D. simplex (also n ¼ 11) as the parental one. Little is known about the reproductive biology in the genus. The floral syndrome (showy petals, nectaries) suggests that they are, in general, at least partly cross-pollinated. The Cape Verde species are selfincompatible (Rustan 1996) and D. tenuifolia is an outbreeder (Eschmann-Grupe et al. 2004). Some degree of self-pollination has been found in D. erucoides subsp. erucoides (Farre´ and Sebastia´ 1992; Sans and Bonet 1993). On the other hand, D. viminea is a clearly autogamous species, as indicated by its much smaller flowers, apparently sterile lateral anthers, and high degree of ovule fertilization and seed formation, and D. muralis is predominantly selfpollinated (Eschmann-Grupe et al. 2004), probably due to maternal inheritance. Crossing experiments have revealed that Diplotaxis species are reproductively rather isolated (MartıńezLaborde 1988b) and belong to at least 13 different

7 Diplotaxis

cytodemes (Harberd 1972; Takahata and Hinata 1983; Prakash et al. 1999). Apart from the case of D. tenuifolia, D. cretacea, and D. simplex, which constitute one cytodeme (with n ¼ 11), and all Cape Verde species, which belong to the same cytodeme (with n ¼ 13) as D. harra (Sobrino Vesperinas 1993; Rustan 1996), all other investigated species (D. assurgens, D. berthautii, D. catholica, D. erucoides, D. muralis, D. siettiana, D. siifolia, D. viminea and D. virgata) are each in its own cytodeme.

7.1.4 Molecular Markers The molecular evidence accumulated along the past 25 years indicates that Diplotaxis species constitute a remarkably heterogeneous group. Phylogenetic analyses of chloroplast-DNA restriction site variation carried out first on a group of Brassica species (Palmer et al. 1983) and then on several genera belonging to tribe Brassiceae (Warwick and Black 1991, 1993; Warwick et al. 1992) consistently showed a clear separation into two clades, designated as the RapaOleracea and Nigra lineages by Warwick and Black (1991) or the Brassica and Sinapis lineages according to Pradhan et al. (1992). Polyphyly was evident for Diplotaxis (Warwick et al. 1992; Warwick and Black 1993), with its species distributed in both lineages. All studied taxa belonging to subgen. Diplotaxis, plus both subspecies of D. erucoides (subgen. Rhynchocarpum, section Heteropetalum) were in the Rapa/Oleracea lineage, whereas all remaining taxa of subgen. Rhynchocarpum were placed in the Nigra lineage. Groups or clades within each lineage were rather consistent with known chromosome numbers and cytodemes as recognized by Harberd (1976) and Takahata and Hinata (1983). In the Rapa/Oleracea lineage, one clade included two sister groups, one with of D. harra and the other with D. tenuifolia and related taxa (n ¼ 11), while D. muralis and D. viminea appeared in a third clade; a fourth clade corresponded to subgen. Rhynchocarpum, section Heteropetalum. In the Nigra lineage, one clade contained most species of section Rhynchocarpum; D. brachycarpa, of the same section, appeared in a second clade, while a third clade corresponded exactly with section Heterocarpum. Martıń and Sańchez-Ye´lamo (2000) studied nuclear DNA markers (microsatellites) in 10 Diplotaxis species,

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and obtained a dendrogram showing two main branches, approximately corresponding to the two mentioned lineages detected with chloroplast DNA. One branch included five species, all of them corresponding to the Rapa/Oleracea lineage and to subgen. Diplotaxis. However, in the other branch appeared D. harra and D. erucoides, of the Rapa/ Oleracea lineage, together three species corresponding to the Nigra lineage and to subgen. Rhynchocarpum.

7.2 Conservation Initiatives In the early 1990s, under the aegis of IPGRI’s (International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, now Bioversity International) program Underutilized and Neglected Crops, financed by the Italian Government and led by Dr. Stefano Padulosi, a specific network was started to foster initiatives of conservation and valuation of Eruca and Diplotaxis genetic resources. The idea came forth from the observation that the wild populations of Diplotaxis in many Mediterranean regions, and in South Italy in particular, were endangered by over-collecting from the wild, due to the growing market request for rocket. The Rocket Genetic Resources Network, or simply Rocket Network, had a first meeting in 1994 in Lisbon, Portugal (Padulosi 1995). Twelve lectures were presented at that meeting regarding conservation and evaluation activities (Pignone and Api Ngu 1995), genetic characterization, and utilization of these crops. During the meeting, it was decided to establish a survey of the collections available all over the world (Table 7.2) and to start a descriptor list in order to facilitate characterization. This event represented the first organized activity aimed at establishing a coordinated activity of conservation and evaluation of these neglected species. A second congress was organized within the frame of the Rocket Network in Padua, Italy, in 1995 (Padulosi and Pignone 1997). One of the most relevant achievements of that meeting was to bring to the attention of the scientific community the studies carried out during the previous couple of years tending to establish cultural practices to cultivate Diplotaxis. Improved agricultural and marketing techniques were developed thereafter, such as mechanized hydroponic cultivation (Bianco and Boari 1997; Pimpini and Enzo 1997;


142 Table 7.2 Accessions of major collections of the genus Diplotaxis stored in gene banks Gene bank No. of Diplotaxis accessions IPK, Gatersleben (D) 18 GRIN-NPGS (USA) 30 UPM, Madrid (E)a 24

No. of D. erucoides accessions 2 1 1

a One accession per each of 24 taxa (species and subspecies) of Diplotaxis are conserved in long-term conditions at the Plant Genebank of the Universidad Politećnica de Madrid (BGV-UPM, http://www.etsia.upm.es/banco_germoplasma/inicio_bgv.htm). Additionally, for a limited number of taxa there are extra accessions used as working collection to assess intraspecific variation

Santamaria et al. 2002) and bagging of harvested leaves under controlled atmosphere for increased shelf-life (Martıńez-Sanchez et al. 2006; Wagstaff 2007), which have made available a clean and readyto-eat product, easy to transport also very far from the production area. The result of this booming activity is that the anthropic pressure over natural population has practically been reduced to a negligible level. Rocket most definitely can no longer be considered a neglected crop.

7.3 Role in Elucidation of Origin and Evolution of Allied Crop Plants Diplotaxis species differ in their mating systems, their life forms, and in their evolutionary history, but some of them are unbeaten colonizers. In fact, it is not difficult to observe fields in which D. erucoides, or D. tenuifolia, or D. muralis are the most, or among the most, abundant species. The diploid perennial D. tenuifolia is an outbreeder, and the allotetraploid annual to biennial D. muralis is predominantly selfpollinated. Eschmann-Grupe et al. (2004) studied the genetic structure of populations of these two species in order to estimate the relative influence of the breeding system and genetic drift effects on the extent and structure of genetic variation. A first result was that no evident correlation between population divergence and geographic distance could be revealed. D. tenuifolia populations were found to be in complete Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium, thus inferring complete and obligate outbreeding behavior. However, a significant allelic differentiation across populations was observed together with deviation of genotypic frequencies from panmictic expectations. On this basis, the authors inferred low or absent gene flow between populations. D. muralis, on the contrary, was nearly

devoid of genetic variation due to the recent phylogenetic history of this species, and its success appeared to be in relation to polyploidy (Eschmann-Grupe et al. 2004). The low variation at the molecular level in D. muralis, however, does not correspond to a low level of phenotypic variation. This is not a unique case; nevertheless, this discrepancy needs to be explored. Different and apparently contrasting results were reported by Hurka et al. (2003). Capsella bursapastoris (L.) Medik., a tetraploid species, showed the greatest colonizing ability among the species considered in their very interesting review. They inferred the success to be associated with polyploidy, predominant self-pollination, high genetic diversity, and to the introduction of pre-adapted genotypes. The observed difference with D. muralis might be attributed to the fact that apparently C. bursa-pastoris is not of recent origin as one might predict from its prevalence for manmade habitats. Many genetic data indicate that the observed genetic variation in this species does not reflect adaptation to local environments but, more probably, population history and colonization events, and archeological data support the long evolutionary history of this species. The authors, therefore, warn that genetic diversity at the molecular level may not be informative of the adaptation status but rather reflect the ancestry of populations and their history. The authors argue that it appears that natural interspecific hybridization is not infrequent in the wild Brassicaceae and the consequent introgression is one of the most important mechanism for the establishment of high levels of genetic variation in diploid species or of successful colonizing polyploids, especially in manmade habitats. This mechanism might have a strong impact on Brassica crops’ evolution or domestication. In fact, it appears that natural hybridization of crop Brassicas with wild species (Sinapis, Raphanus, etc.) is not a rare event (Warwick and

7 Diplotaxis

Small 1999). Hurka et al. (2003) report also on some examples of Cardamine and Nasturtium to demonstrate the evolutionary significance of hybridization in rapidly changing environments, and infer that an increase in interspecific gene transfer due to habitat modification is to be expected. The success of polyploidy in the Brassicaceae might have a genetic base: that is, might be due to the presence of specific meiotic mutants facilitating the production of non-reduced gametes at meiosis. Malallah and Attia (2003) reported the observation of 1.5% cytomixis and 7.8% aneuploidy in pollen mother cells of a Kuwaiti diploid (2n ¼ 26) population of D. harra. In addition to a genetic control of cytomixis, stress factors such as high temperature or drought during definite periods of the growing season may contribute to the occurrence of cytomixis. Nonreductional meiosis, besides favoring the establishment of polyploids, may also be one of the factors involved in gene flow among species at different ploidy level, as observed in hybrids involving Triticum and Aegilops (Pignone 1993). Recently, Marhold and Lihova` (2006) have reviewed studies on polyploidization and hybridization events in the Brassicaceae. They have recognized these phenomena as important evolutionary forces in the family. They describe the reticulated pattern of evolution in Brassicaceae, which derives from allopolyploid and homoploid hybrid speciation.

7.4 Role in Classical and Molecular Genetic Studies and in Crop Improvement 7.4.1 Trypsin Inhibitors Many evidences indicate that trypsin inhibitors can confer to plants resistance to the attacks of phytophagous insects. From Sinapis, the MTI-2 (mustard trypsin inhibitor) inhibitor was isolated and found to be encoded by the gene mti-2 (Ceci et al. 1995; Volpicella et al. 2001; De Leo et al. 2002) belonging to a novel family specific of the Brassicaceae. In order to identify other inhibitors with higher or qualitatively different activity with respect to MTI-2, a search of new variants of mti-2 was undertaken, within the

143

Brassicaceae, based on the nucleotide sequence homology (Pignone et al. 2001). New interesting variants of the mti-2 gene were found in D. tenuifolia and D. muralis. In order to characterize the activity of the newly identified genes, they were in vitro expressed using the yeast vector Pichia pastoris. The recombinant proteins so produced were tested for their ability to inhibit commercial (trypsin, chymotrypsin) and Helicoverpa zea larvae gut proteinases, using specific chromogenic substrates (BApNA, SAAPLpNA), in order to estimate the Ki against the respective proteinase. The results indicated that the activity against insect proteases was much higher than against commercial enzymes, indicating that the usually adopted procedure of reporting activity of plant protease inhibitors against bovine trypsin may lead to wrong estimation of their effect on insect proteases (Volpicella et al. 2009). These results open new perspectives to horticultural crop breeding, since they offer the possibility to identify new sources of useful genes to be used in specific programs of introgressive hybridization.

7.4.2 Glucosinolates The genus Diplotaxis, as other Brassicaceae, is a major producer of glucosinolates. Glucosinolates are a group of sulfur-rich thioglucoside natural products common in the Brassicaceae and related plant families. Isothiocyanates are the volatile products of (enzymatic) hydrolysis of glucosinolates, and they are responsible for the characteristic aroma of many crucifers (Macleod 1976; Rodman 1991). According to a revision by Fahey et al. (2001), as many as 16 compounds have been reported in the nine species of Diplotaxis so far investigated (Table 7.3). It is of interest that two compounds found in D. tenuifolia [4-(Methylsulfinyl) butyl and 4-(Methylthio)butyl] are the same glucosinolates found in Eruca vesicaria, which may account for taste similarities, flavor, and culinary uses between these two widely used species. The role of these compounds on plant protection (Rosa et al. 1997; Fahey et al. 2001) and their influence on human and animal health have been largely described (Srinibas et al. 2000). The glucosinolate content and profile were studied on 44 accessions of different origins, belonging to 17 different Diplotaxis

144


Table 7.3 Glucosinolates found in species of Diplotaxis, grouped into classes according to their chemical structure (as reported by Fahey et al. 2001) Classa Glucosinolates Species of Diplotaxisb Dca Der Dgr Dha Dmu Dsi Dtf Dvm Dvr A 4-(Methylsulfinyl)butyl þ þ 4-(Methylthio)butyl þ þ þ þ 3-(Methylthio)pentyl þ C 1-Methylethyl þ þ 1-Methylpropyl þ þ D 3-Butenyl þ þ þ þ 2-Hydroxy-3-butenyl þ 2-Propenyl þ þ þ 4-Pentenyl þ G Benzyl þ þ 4-Hydroxybenzyl þ þ þ þ þ þ 2-Phenylethyl þ þ I 4-Hydroxyindol-3-ylmethyl þ Indol-3-ylmethyl þ 1-Methoxyindol-3-ylmethyl þ 4- Methoxyindol-3-ylmethyl þ a

Chemical classes as follows: (A) sulfur containing side-chains, (C) aliphatic, branches chain, (D) straight and branched chain, (G) aromatic, (I) indole. b Species acronyms as follows: Dca (D. catholica), Der (D. erucoides), Dgr (D. griffithii), Dha (D. harra), Dmu (D. muralis), Dsi (D. siifolia), Dvm (D. viminea), Dvr (D. virgata)

taxa (D’Antuono et al. 2006). Total glucosinolate content ranged from 0.25 to more than 70 g/kg of dry mass. Sinigrin, sinalbin, glucobrassicin, and gluconasturtin represented the main components of the glucosinolate rich accessions, accounting for 50–100% of the total glucosinolate content. The glucosinolate content of D. tenuifolia reached a maximum of 4.6 g/kg of dry mass. As regards the presence of glucosinolates with recognized cancer protective effects, glucoraphanin was widespread in D. tenuifolia, glucobrassicin was very abundant (6.7 g/kg) in one accession of D. siifolia, and gluconasturtin was relevant in D. brachycarpa (2.8 g/kg) (D’Antuono et al. 2006). It is also worth noting that these compounds fall within a broad category of compounds called allelochemicals, and are exclusive of food that influences growth, health, or behavior of other organisms (Brown and Morra 2005). The interest in allelochemicals is in relation to their potential for use as alternative pest management agents. In fact, the use of plant-produced allelochemicals in agricultural and horticultural practices could possibly reduce the use of synthetic pesticides to a minimum. The plant products, in fact, do not require energy from fossil sources, which help in reducing the CO2 balance of the environment, leading therefore to a more sustainable agricultural system.

7.4.3 Wide Hybridization The genus Diplotaxis is a somewhat close relative of the genus Brassica, one of the most commercially important genera in the world. Therefore, much effort has been spent in producing hybrids and amphyploids of Diplotaxis with Brassicas in order to transfer the useful genes present in the wild gene pool to the crops. Attempts have been made to obtain intergeneric hybrids between D. siifolia and the species Brassica campestris, B. juncea, and B. napus (Batra et al. 1990). Due to unilateral incompatibility, hybrids were obtained only using the Diplotaxis parent as a female. Through ovary culture it was possible to establish hybrids showing no fertility and therefore maintained using axillary bud propagation. The amphiploids derived from these hybrids were partially self-fertile and could be used for establishing backcross derivatives. Wide hybridization has also been used to establish cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines via alloplasmy. For instance, CMS lines were developed in Brassica juncea using the bridgecross hybrids (D. erucoides B. campestris) B. juncea and (D. berthautii B. campestris) B. juncea. Both lines resembled the B. juncea parent in morphology and were as

7 Diplotaxis

much female fertile as the Brassica parent. Differences could be observed in the floral morphology and in the smaller anther with empty and sterile pollen (Malik et al. 1999). Pathania et al. (2003) reported on CMS based on alloplasmic B. juncea carrying D. catholica cytoplasm. In these plants, using genetic segregation data, they could demonstrate that a single, dominant nuclear gene governs fertility restoration. The male sterility appeared to be based on interaction between the Brassica nuclear and the Diplotaxis mitochondrial (mt) genomes. However, in Northern analysis, out of eight mt genes studied, an altered transcript pattern was recorded only for atpA. In fertility-restored plants, the atpA transcript appeared shorter and it was associated with the CMS trait. Recently, Bhat et al. (2008) reported on the development of improved CMS lines of B. juncea carrying cytoplasm of D. berthautii, overcoming some of the problems of the lines described by Malik et al. (1999), whose female fertility was comparable to that of the euplasmic lines. Moreover, the fertility restorers of Moricandia arvensis or D. catholica-based alloplasmic CMS lines appeared to be capable of restoring male fertility also to this newly described CMS line. Also in this case, the fertility restoration appeared to be monogenic and gametophytic. As in Pathania et al.’s (2003) report, Northern analysis using eight mitochondrial gene probes revealed an altered expression of the mt gene atpA associated with male sterility. The paper by Bhat et al. (2008) contains an extensive, up-to-date, and illuminating literature for those who are interested in this topic. Wide hybridization and the production of alloplasmic CMS lines appears at present the most promising system to improve Brassica crops.

7.4.4 Genomics Resources Developed A search of the EMBL database (http://srs.ebi.ac.uk) using Diplotaxis as a keyword for organism name returned 261 entries. Most of them refer to plastidial or nuclear (rDNA) spacers sequences. These sequences are mostly used for phylogenetic reconstruction studies, since they are considered to be neutral markers of evolutionary events.

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Just for the sake of comparison, a search for Arabidopsis or Brassica returned over 2 and 1.6 billon entries, respectively. The Brassicaceae sequences present in the EMBL database include over 4.2 billion entries. This means that the genomes of Diplotaxis species have not even been looked at! The abundance of information present in sequence databases, comprising nuclear, plastidial, and expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences, is a powerful resource to explore the genomes of this genus, which is waiting to be exploited in order to analyze the genetics of some traits, like perenniality, which cannot be studied in model organisms like Arabidopsis or in annual crops.

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D. Pignone and J.B. Martıńez-Laborde Malallah GA, Attia TA (2003) Cytomixis and its possible evolutionary role in a Kuwaiti population of Diplotaxis harra (Brassicaceae). Bot J Linn Soc 143:169–175 Malik M, Vyas P, Rangaswamy NS, Shivanna AK (1999) Development of two new cytoplasmic male sterile lines in Brassica juncea through wide hybridization. Plant Breed 118:75–78 Marais W (1970) Cruciferae. In: Codd LE, de Winter B, Killick DJB, Rycroft HB (eds) Flora of Southern Africa, vol 13. NHBS, Pretoria, South Africa, pp 1–118 Marhold K, Lihova` J (2006) Polyploidy, hybridization and reticulate evolution: lessons from the Brassicaceae. Plant Syst Evol 259:143–174 Martıń JP, Sańchez-Ye´lamo MD (2000) Genetic relationships among species of the genus Diplotaxis (Brassicaceae) using inter-simple sequence repeat markers. Theor Appl Genet 101:1234–1241 Martıńez-Laborde JB (1988a) Estudio sistema´tico del geńero Diplotaxis DC. (Cruciferae-Brassiceae). Unpublished Doctorial Thesis, University Politećnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain Martıńez-Laborde JB (1988b) Studies on the hybridization and evolution of Diplotaxis DC. (Cruciferae, Brassiceae). Cruciferae Newsl 13:14–15 Martıńez-Laborde JB (1990) On previous misuses of the name Diplotaxis pitardiana Maire (Cruciferae: Brassiceae). Taxon 39(1):117–118 Martıńez-Laborde JB (1991a) Diplotaxis harra (Forska˚l) Boiss. in Europe. Bot J Linn Soc 106:112–115 Martıńez-Laborde JB (1991b) Two additional species of Diplotaxis (Cruciferae, Brassiceae) with n ¼ 8 chromosomes. Willdenowia 21:63–68 Martıńez-Laborde JB (1992) Caracteres taxon omicos de cotiledones y pe´talos en Diplotaxis DC. (Cruciferae: Brassicaceae). Parodiana 7(1–2):41–53 Martıńez-Laborde JB (1998) A new report on the vascular flora of the island of Alboran (Spain). Flora Mediterr 8:37–39 Martıńez-Laborde JB (1999) Brassicaceae. In: Zuloaga F, Morrone O (eds) Cata´logo de las Plantas Vasculares de la Repu´blica Argentina II. Monographs in Systemic Botany No. 74. MO Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO, pp 388–420 Martıńez-Laborde JB, Meńdez E (2001) Una nueva Cruciferae adventicia en Argentina. Bol Soc Argent Bot 36(1–2):143–146 Martıńez-Laborde JB, Pita-Villamil JM, Pe´rez-Garcıá F (2007) Secondary dormancy in Diplotaxis erucoides: a possible adaptative strategy as an annual weed. Span J Agric Res 5 (3):402–406 Martıńez-Sanchez A, Marin A, Llorach R, Ferreres F, Gil MI (2006) Controlled atmosphere preserves quality and phytonutrients in wild rocket (Diplotaxis tenuifolia). Postharvest Biol Technol 40:26–33 Mummenhoff K, Eschmann-Grupe G, Zunk K (1993) Subunit polypeptide composition of Rubisco indicates Diplotaxis viminea as maternal parent species of amphidiploid Diplotaxis muralis. Phytochemistry 34:429–431 Padulosi S (1995) Rocket genetic resources network. Report of the first meeting, Lisbon, Portugal, IPGRI, Rome, Italy, 13–15 Nov 1994 Padulosi S, Pignone D (1997) Rocket: a Mediterranean crop for the world. Report of a workshop, Legnaro (Padova), Italy, IPGRI, Rome, Italy, 13–14 Dec 1996

7 Diplotaxis Palmer JD, Shields CR, Cohen DB, Orton TJ (1983) Chloroplast DNA evolution and the origin of amphidiploid Brassica species. Theor Appl Genet 65:181–189 Pathania A, Bhat SR, Dinesh Kumar V, Ashutosh KPB, Prakash S, Chopra VL (2003) Cytoplasmic male sterility in alloplasmic Brassica juncea carrying Diplotaxis catholica cytoplasm: molecular characterization and genetics of fertility restoration. Theor Appl Genet 107:455–461 Pe´rez-Garcıá F, Iriondo JM, Martıńez-Laborde JB (1995) Germination behaviour in seeds of Diplotaxis erucoides and D. virgata. Weed Res 35:495–502 Pignone D (1993) Non-reductional meiosis in a Triticum turgidum Aegilops longissima hybrid and in backcrosses of its amphidiploid with T. turgidum (Poaceae). Plant Syst Evol 187:127–134 Pignone D, Api Ngu M (1995) Collection and conservation of rocket genetic resources: the Italian contribution. In: Padulosi S (1995) Rocket genetic resources network. Report of the first meeting, Lisbon, Portugal, IPGRI, Rome, Italy, 13–15 Nov 1994, pp 8–11 Pignone D, Erriquez R, Gallerani R, Sonnante G, Ceci LR (2001) Reserve genetics analysis of the presence of MTI-2 analogues in the Brassicaceae genepool and their in vitro expression. In: Proceedings of 45th annual SIGA meeting, Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy, 26–29 Sept 2001, p S1B Pimpini F, Enzo M (1997) The taramina crop in Veneto environments (Eruca sativa – Diplotaxis). Colture Protette 26:21–32 Pita Villamil JM, Pe´rez-Garcıá F, Martıńez-Laborde JB (2002) Time of seed collection and germination in rocket, Eruca vesicaria (L.) Cav. (Brassicaceae). Genet Resour Crop Evol 49:47–51 Pradhan AK, Prakash S, Mukhopadhyay A, Pental D (1992) Phylogeny of Brassica and allied genera based on variation in chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA patterns: molecular and taxonomic classifications are incongruous. Theor Appl Genet 85:331–340 Prakash S, Takahata Y, Kirti P, Chopra V (1999) Cytogenetics. In: G omez-Campo C (ed) Biology of Brassica coenospecies. Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands, pp 59–106 Rodman JE (1991) A taxonomic analysis of glucosinolate-producing plants, part 1: phenetics. Syst Bot 16(4):598–618 Rollins RC (1993) The Cruciferae of continental North America. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA Rosa EAS, Heaney RK, Fenwick GR, Portas CAM (1997) Glucosinolates in crop plants. Hortic Rev 19:99–225 Rustan ØH (1996) Revision of the genus Diplotaxis (Brassicaceae) in the Cape Verde Islands, W Africa. Nord J Bot 16:19–50 Sańchez-Ye´lamo MD (1994) A chemosystematic survey of flavonoids in the Brassicinae: Diplotaxis. Bot J Linn Soc 115:9–18 Sańchez-Ye´lamo MD, Martıńez-Laborde JB (1991) Chemotoaxonomic approach to Diplotaxis muralis (Cruciferae: Brassiceae) and related species. Biochem Syst Ecol 19 (6):477–482 Sańchez-Ye´lamo MD, Ortiz JM, Gogorcena Y (1992) Comparative electrophoretic studies of seed proteins in some species of the genera Diplotaxis, Erucastrum and Brassica (Cruciferae: Brassiceae). Taxon 41:477–483

147 Sans FX, Bonet A (1993) Producci on de frutos y semillas en Diplotaxis erucoides (L.) DC. sometidos a diferentes tratamientos de polinizaci on. Collect Bot 22:49–54 Sans FX, Masalles RM (1994) Life-history variation in the annual arable weed Diplotaxis erucoides (Cruciferae). Can J Bot 72:10–19 Santamaria P, Elia A, Serio F (2002) Effect of solution nitrogen concentration on yield, leaf element content, and water and nitrogen use efficiency of three hydroponically-grown rocket salad genotypes. J Plant Nutr 25:245–258 Sobrino Vesperinas E (1993) Revisi on taxon omica de dos especies del geńero Diplotaxis ende´micas de las islas de Cabo Verde. Candollea 48:137–144 Srinibas K, Tyagi AK, Kaur H (2000) Cancer modulation by glucosinolates, a review. Curr Sci 78:1665–1671 Taiyan Z, Lianli L, Guang Y, Al-Shehbaz IA (2001) Brassicaceae. In: Wu ZY, Raven PH (eds) Flora of China 8 (Brassicaceae through Saxifragaceae). Science Press and MO Botanical Garden, Beijing, China, pp 1–193 Takahata Y, Hinata K (1978) A description of the genetic stocks in subtribe Brassicinae by chromosome numbers and numerical characters. Cruciferae Newsl 3:47–51 Takahata Y, Hinata K (1983) Studies on cytodemes in subtribe Brassicinae (Cruciferae). Tohoku J Agric Res 33(3–4):111–124 Volpicella M, Ceci LR, Gallerani R, Jongsma MA, Beekwilder J (2001) Functional expression on bacteriophage of the mustard trypsin inhibitor MTI-2. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 80:813–817 Volpicella M, De Leo F, Sciancalepore M, Sonnante G, Pignone D, Gallerani R, Ceci LR (2009) Identification and characterization of protease inhibitors in Diplotaxis species. Plant Physiol Biochem 47:175–180 Wagstaff C (2007) Genetic variation associated with glucosinolate hydrolysis and postharvest performance in rocket (Arugula) species. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 146:252–253 Warwick SL, Anderson JK (1997) Isozyme analysis of parentage in allopolyploid Diplotaxis muralis (L.) DC. (Brassicaceae). Cruciferae Newsl 19:35–36 Warwick SL, Black LD (1991) Molecular systematics of Brassica and allied genera (Subtribe Brassicinae, Brassiceae) – chloroplast genome and cytodeme congruence. Theor Appl Genet 82:81–92 Warwick SL, Black LD (1993) Molecular relationships in subtribe Brassicinae (Cruciferae, tribe Brassiceae). Can J Bot 71:906–918 Warwick SL, Small E (1999) Invasive plant species: evolutionary risk from transgenic crops. In: van Raamsdonk LWD, den Nijs JCM (eds) Plant evolution in man-made habitats. Proceedings of the 7th international symposium on organisms and plant biosystems, Hugo de Vries Lab, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, pp 235–256 Warwick SL, Black LD, Aguinagalde I (1992) Molecular systematics of Brassica and allied genera (Subtribe Brassicinae, Brassiceae) – chloroplast DNA variation in the genus Diplotaxis. Theor Appl Genet 83:839–850 Warwick SL, Francis A, Al-Shehbaz IA (2006) Brassicaceae: species checklist and database on CD-Rom. Plant Syst Evol 259:249–258

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Chapter 8

Eruca Domenico Pignone and Ce´sar Go´mez-Campo

8.1 Basic Botany of Eruca spp. Rocket or arugula is an edible plant that grows wild in the Mediterranean basin and eastwards to Iran. It belongs to the botanical genus Eruca, a member of the tribe Brassiceae within the family Brassicaceae (erstwhile Cruciferae). The taxonomic limits of the genus have been moved with time, but today, we can safely agree that Eruca contains a single species Eruca vesicaria (L.) Cav., which, in turn, includes three infraspecific taxa. All of these can be found in the wild state, but only E. vesicaria subsp. sativa (Miller) Thell. (syn. Eruca sativa Miller) has been domesticated and occupies a wider geographical area in the world. The second (type) subspecies, vesicaria, as well as the third subspecies, pinnatifida (Desf.) Emberger & Maire, is only local in the West Mediterranean area. Although another subspecies, longirostra (Uechtr.) Maire, from the West Mediterranean area has also been described, a detailed morphometric analysis based on fruit dimensions does not confirm its distinct status (Go´mezCampo 2003a). The accepted botanical name for the cultivated rockets is, therefore, E. vesicaria subsp. sativa (Miller) Thellung, though it is still frequently referred to by the simplified synonym E. sativa Mill. Other ancient synonyms are Brassica eruca L. and Raphanus eruca (L.) Crantz. The plants of Eruca are annual, up to 1 m high, either glabrescent or more or less roughly hispid, with simple hairs, mostly in the stem. The basal leaves occur in a D. Pignone (*) CNR- Institute of Plant Genetics, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy e-mail: [email protected] This contribution is dedicated to the late Prof. Go´mez-Campo. The chapter is probably his last scientific work.

rosette and are lobed to pinnatifid (sinuses not reaching the midnerve), with the lobes usually acute. Caulinar leaves are often simplified. Floral racemes have many flowers with no bracts at their base. Sepals are erect and more or less hairy; the lateral ones are swollen at their base and slightly hooded at their apex (the median ones also sometimes slightly so). The petals are 1–2 cm long, whitish, creamy or somewhat yellowish, and unguiculate, with very conspicuous violet brochydodrome venation. Median nectaries are ovoid. Stigma is small and bilobed. Siliques are short (10–35 mm), usually erectopatent or sometimes patent, erect or adpressed, with their valves oblong and subcylindrical, showing a well-defined and visible straight median vein. The stylar portion is flat, ensiform, or spadiciform (swordlike), and always asperm (seedless). Seeds are small, 1–3 (4) mm, somewhat flattened, and biseriate or subbiseriate in each locule. Cotyledons are conduplicate (embracing the radicule in the embryo) (Tutin 1993; Go´mezCampo 1993). Eruca has a pan-Mediterranean distribution and is also diffused into the Near East. As a cultivated form, it is also present and popular in Asia (India, Pakistan) and, more recently, in the Americas. All the abovementioned subspecies can be found in the southwest Mediterranean region, while only one of them (subsp. sativa) has spread to other parts of the world. Their distribution suggests that the Southwest Mediterranean region is the center of diversification for this species. Throughout the area of subsp. sativa, plants that have escaped from cultivation show larger and more robust fruit and seeds , a trend that can be used to distinguish them from the real wild ones. Consequently, toward the east, Iran contains both escaped and wild phenotypes, while further to the east (Pakistan and India), only the escaped forms can be found. The same obviously occurs in North and South America. On the contrary,


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subsp. vesicaria (the originally described type subspecies) is only present in gypsaceous soils of the central, eastern, and southeastern regions of the Iberian Peninsula and also in some areas of Northwest Algeria, around Tlemcem. Subspecies pinnatifida grows in subdesertic areas of Morocco and Algeria. Subspecies vesicaria is not cultivated (Go´mez-Campo and Prakash 1999), while subsp. pinnatifida is sometimes cultivated as a leaf vegetable or grown as a fresh forage in oases in the Sahara (Specht and Diederichsen 2001). The exact identification of the three subspecies is difficult in herbarium material as this often contains too young inflorescences. Also, some distinctive characters of the inflorescence, for instance, anther shape or sepal cucullation (hooding), are not as constant as described in the books. Others are altered by the pressure used during the drying process. For this reason, Go´mez-Campo (2003a) recommended the use of fresh material and built a table after side by side cultivation of samples (Table 8.1) collected during various expeditions. To better describe the subspecies vesicaria and sativa, the same author cultivated more than 100 accessions, recording a number of characters, and conducted a morphometrical analysis where, in some cases, subsp. pinnatifida were included. Some of the characters were found to be distinctive, but most of them could not be considered definitive due to some difficulties in recording them. In fact, differential characters appeared to be copious, but some were dependent on environmental conditions, while some others were easily observed in cultivation but were difficult to score in nature, and others were erratic or restricted

D. Pignone and C. Go´mez-Campo

only to limited geographical areas. Similar difficulties were also reported for the correct identification of the subsp. pinnatifida. The ecogeographic distribution of the samples is also of much help because susbsp. vesicaria or subsp. pinnatifida are practically impossible to find outside their areas of distribution. The possibility of studying living plants growing side by side under identical conditions (Fig. 8.1) was considered a way to avoid environmental bias with respect to the expression of some distinctive characters, thus facilitating the gaining of new insights into the infraspecific levels of variation of this species (Fig. 8.2). Table 8.1 gives a critical account of the characters, which have been used to distinguish the three subspecies. However, the following key might be more useful in the practice. It is only based in a short number of characters, those that were judged the most practical to distinguish all the three subspecies: A key for Eruca subspecies: 1. Seeds not larger than 1 (1.1) mm

subsp. pinnatifida

1. Seeds from 1.0 to 2.5 mm 2. Calyx persistent to maturity. Lower fruit pedicels 8–15 mm subsp. vesicaria 2. Calyx deciduous shortly after fertilization. All fruit pedicels 6 mm subsp. sativa

The chromosome number of Eruca is 2n ¼ 22 (n ¼ 11), and it does not change among the different subspecies of this species (Harberd 1972). This basic number is rarely present in other related genera of the Brassiceae (Guenthera sensu lato, Diplotaxis Sect. Diplotaxis), and it is noteworthy that it occurs

Table 8.1 Some possible characters for distinguishing between subsp. vesicaria and subsp. sativa and their limitations (after Go´mez-Campo 2003a) Subsp. vesicaria Subsp. sativa Observations Plant height 80–140 (150) cm Plant height 60–100 (120) cm Of variable expression under natural conditions Plant contor hemispherical Plant contor obconical Of difficult observation under natural conditions Plant very hispid Plant less hispid to glabrous High interindividual and interpopulation variation Lower leaves pinnatilobed Lower leaves pinnatifid Pinnatilobed leaves are often present in subsp. vesicaria Racemes with 12–15 (20) flowers Racemes with 20–25 (30) flowers Of difficult observation in poorly developed subsp. sativa Calyx swollen at the base Calyx not swollen Not fully applicable in all the subsp. vesicaria area Calyx persistent Calyx deciduous Of difficult evaluation in late fruiting stages or in dry years Sepals all cucullate Sepals only two cucullate Only applicable to the first 2–3 flowers of each raceme (hooded) Corola cream, yellowish Corola cream, whitish Only applicable within the Iberian Peninsula Anthers subacute Anthers obtuse Difficult to asses Lower fruit pedicels 9–12 Lower fruit pedicels 96% germination after 40 years) (Pe´rez-Garcıá et al. 2007). Regarding wild variability, a present matter of concern should be the fate of some wild populations of subsp. sativa in certain areas of the Mediterranean basin. In Italy, for instance, it is very common to find the same subspecies to have escaped from cultivation, and these supposedly displace and/or interbreed with the original wild populations. Though they might be difficult to distinguish in the first instance, escaped populations show larger siliques and larger seeds than the original wild populations.

8.4 Role in Elucidation of Origin and Evolution of Allied Crop Plants The tribe Brassiceae has recently been the object of considerable studies because it includes economically important crops such as Brassica oleracea, B. rapa, B. napus, Sinapis alba, Raphanus sativus, etc. (see for a recent review, Al-Shehbaz et al. 2006). These and other studies point out that the Brassiceae is perhaps a monophyletic tribe and consists of 46 genera and some 230 species that share some common characters, such as conduplicate cotyledons, segmented fruits (partially), and simple or no trichomes. The vast part of the genera within this tribe are easily recognized by their fruit morphology, while vegetative characters, such as leaf or flower ones, are often valid but, in general, less adequate to this end. Moreover, the recent work of Warwick and Sauder (2005), based on cpDNA analysis on this tribe, clearly demonstrates that the traditionally recognized generic boundaries need to be revised. This work confirms previous observations (Yanagino et al. 1987; Song et al. 1990; Warwick and Black 1991) that within this tribe, two main clades are present, weakly defined at the morphological level but not at the molecular one. For this reason, Al-Shehbaz et al. (2006) suggest that the larger and most commonly known genera of the tribe (e.g., Brassica, Diplotaxis, Sinapis, etc.) should be reshaped. Nevertheless, these genera include economically important crops and weeds, so this proposal might have slow initial acceptance. Morphologically, Go´mezCampo (1999) has insisted in the evolutionary importance of the presence of seeds in the stylar portion, a

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trend that can only be found in approximately one half of the genera. On this basis, the genus Guenthera, with a seedless stylar portion, was split from Brassica (Go´mez-Campo 2003b). It shows a clear relation to Eruca, but it needs to be further defined because it contains three molecular clades. Eruca is not affected itself with this readjustment although its position within an ampler group of tentative relatives depends from further studies. Within the tribe Brassiceae, Eruca is a relatively isolated genus. One could perhaps aim to find which other genera are more or less related to it (Diplotaxis, Brassica, etc.), but it would be difficult to identify the nearest one. Based on restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP; Song et al. 1990) and cpDNA data (Warwick and Black 1991; Pradhan et al. 1992), it has been suggested that Raphanus sativus (n ¼ 9) and E. sativa (n ¼ 11) are genetically close. They possess some morphological similarities such as large sized flowers with prominent veins in the petal, but the dissimilarities are deeper and more abundant. For instance, fruit structure is diametrically different. Of particular interest is the reference to its closeness to Brassica. If we consider the group of taxa disclosed from Brassica under Guenthera (Go´mezCampo 2003b), these might be much closer to Eruca, at least morphologically (seedless stylar portion, leaves never lyrate-pinnatisect, shallower cotyledon notch than in more advanced Brassica species, etc.) and also by their chromosome number. Some rare material of this group from the Rif and Thell mountains in North Africa have even been described as Eruca (Eruca setulosa Boissier & Reuter, Eruca loncholoma (Pomel) O. E. Schulz) based upon similarity in the fruits. E. vesicaria might have been a “progressive” annual taxon derived from such perennial material, which extended around as a weed in the Mediterranean basin. If we go to real Brassica species where the fruits show a seeded beak and the leaves are lyrate-pinnatisect, the morphological relation is less clear. The possibility of transferring useful characters between E. vesicaria and B. oleracea has often been suggested (Bansal et al. 1997), and crosses between both species are possible but problematic. In a recent ITS-based molecular dendrogram, E. vesicaria (two subspecies) form a neat group with Diplotaxis tenuifolia and Brassicaria repanda (of the Guenthera group) (Warwick and Sauder 2005). Similar relations


had been suggested by Pradhan et al. (1992) using both cp-DNA and mt-DNA. In short, if we go to the treatment of Go´mez-Campo (1999), Eruca may be much more related – morphologically and molecularly – to Brassica subgen. Brassicaria than to Brassica subgen. Brassica.

8.5 Classical and Molecular Genetic Studies Based on chloroplast DNA restriction experiments using 20 different endonucleases, Warwick and Black (1991) attempted a molecular taxonomy of Brassica and allies, analyzing 33 diploid taxa of the subtribe Brassicinae. They observed a total of 419 mutations, 221 (53%) of which phylogenetically useful. In their analysis, Warwick and Black (1991) concluded that the genus Eruca pertained to a clade they defined the “Rapa/Oleracea lineage,” which also included Brassica, some Diplotaxis, and Raphanus, other taxa possessing pungent leaves and therefore used in salads, as distinguished from the “Nigra lineage,” which also included Sinapis. Though correlation with morphology is not high, the existence of these lineages is useful to understand molecular relationships among genera and groups of genera. As for Eruca itself, a dendrogram by Warwick et al. (2007), based on 47 accessions and a total of 234 polymorphic amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fragments, neatly separates all the three subspecies and includes a separate consistent branch with Asiatic sativa accessions, the latter of probable cultivated origin. Hybridization among both subspecies has been conducted by Sobrino-Vesperinas (1995), who found fertility only in one direction – subsp. sativa (female) subsp. vesicaria – and high sterility in the opposite way – subsp. vesicaria (female) subsp. sativa. He suggests that both subspecies should be given the rank of species. So far, we ignore of the existence of hybridizations involving subsp. pinnatifida. Hybridization with other supposedly related taxa is also rare because while chromosome number 2n ¼ 22 is present in some other related genera in the Brassiceae, these are often poorly known, and germplasm is often not available. With reference to the described

8 Eruca

cytodemes with n ¼ 11 (Harberd 1972; Warwick and Al-Shehbaz 2006; Prakash et al. 2009), the five that have been found are Diplotaxis acris/Diplotaxis tenuifolia/Brassica souliei/Brassica elongata/Eruca vesicaria. As far as we know, the four other members of these cytodemes have never been successfully crossed with E. vesicaria, probably because it has never been intended. Both Brassica species mentioned belong to the Guenthera group (formerly Brassica subgen. Brassicaria (Godr.) Go´mez-Campo 1999). Diplotaxis with seedless stylar portion, especially D. tenuifolia, constantly appear close to E. vesicaria in molecular dendrograms. Somatic hybrids of E. vesicaria subsp. sativa Brassica juncea were reported by Sikdar et al. (1990), as well as of E. vesicaria subsp. sativa Brassica napus (Fahleson et al. 1988). In both cases, chromosome pairing was very poor. Several other interesting achievements by plant breeders are described below. The status of wide hybridization in the Brassicinae was reviewed in Warwick (1995) and more recently by Marhold and Lihova´ (2006). Genomic in situ hybridization has effectively been used to determine the alien chromosome status at mitosis in some of the somatic hybrids and their progeny, e.g., in E. sativa B. napus (Fahleson et al. 1988). Also, several cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) systems in B. napus and B. juncea based on E. vesicaria subsp. sativa have been obtained following protoplast fusion. No autopolyploids have ever been induced or detected.

8.6 Role in Crop Improvement Through Traditional and Advanced Tools Although known and appreciated for centuries, Eruca has been given little attention by geneticists and breeders until now. Different from Diplotaxis species, both are often called by the same common name and used in the same way. Only Eruca shows a certain level of domestication. Go´mez-Campo (2003a) suggested that some collections from the wild are, in fact, in feral forms: plants that have established natural stands after escaping from cultivation. True wild forms (estimated by the smaller fruits and seeds and by the internal

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variability of the populations) can only be found in Spain and Iran. Still, it seems that the use of this species eastward to India dates back to very ancient times. At present, nothing is known for sure regarding the time and place of domestication of this species, but one could imagine that Eruca represents one of the many experiments men conducted through predomestication cultivation of wild forms and empiric selection of the forms most adapted to their needs (Hammer 1988; Balter 2007; Pignone 2009). The domestication of Eruca is in any case at a very initial state and presently, as it happens to other extensively cultivated vegetables of the Brassicaceae family, only a few open-pollinated cultivars have been registered, while the majority of seeds present in the market have no registration. Eruca is a cross-pollinated species, which is mostly self-incompatible, and may suffer from severe inbreeding depression. For this reason, breeding of this species is mostly based on mass selection for the desired traits (Morales and Janick 2002). The hybrid nature of the varieties has the advantage of maintaining a high level of heterosis but at the same time reduces the uniformity of the crop. A complex system of self-incompatibility, mainly gametophytic, is present, but with some alleles acting sporophytically. The existence of genic male sterility has been verified. To overcome such a limitation and to obtain the most benefit from the heterosis in hybrid populations, the availability of highly homozygotic lines is essential. To overcome the problems of self-incompatibility and inbreeding depression, one strategy might be that of the production of doubled haploids via anther or microspore culture, a technique commonly used for haploid production in the Brassicaceae. Recently, Leskovsˇek et al. (2008) reported a successful protocol for the obtainment via microspore culture of Eruca embryos able to develop into plantlets. These authors could induce the formation of embryos from the microspore cultures, which turned to be in most cases diploid. In fact, out of some 500 embryos analyzed, about two-thirds were diploid, while less than one-third was haploid and higher ploidy levels represented only some 5% of the regenerated plantlets. The genetic nature of diploid plantlets was not ascertained, so it is unknown whether they are doubled haploids or the result of fusion of haploid cells. Besides the question being still open, this technique evidences for new perspectives for Eruca breeding.

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As stated earlier, Eruca is molecularly included in the Rapa/Oleracea lineage (Warwick and Black 1991), and with the restrictions described above, it is an undoubted molecular relative of Brassica. For this reason, it has been suggested as a possible donor of genes for Brassica improvement. Magrath and Mithen (1997) reported on a sexually obtained amphiploid E. sativa B. rapa, which was self-incompatible, but could be crossed with the B. rapa parent to attempt gene transfer. In fact, in the Brassiceae, the meiotic chromosome pairing regulation is not too strict and alien chromosome pairing is not unexpected. Eruca could be a source of genes for some fungal diseases that affect Brassica species (Tewari et al. 1996) and for the fatty acids’ pathway, particularly for the production of erucic acid. Moreover, amphiploids could help elucidate the genetics of the different fatty acids’ production and the different genes involved in saturation and length of the acid chain. A different approach to the obtainment of amphiploids between distant species is somatic hybridization. Using this approach, Fahleson et al. (1997) could study the problems and the fate of alien chromosomes introduced in a different background after the hybrid is backcrossed to one of the parents. Using genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques, it was possible to distinguish the chromosomes belonging to Brassica and to Eruca in each examined cell. Moreover, GISH and FISH allowed the identification of recombinant chromosomes. These results are of great importance as molecular cytogenetic techniques could be easily used to select the appropriate plants in marker-assisted selection programs. Cytogenetic studies in Eruca are scarce. Besides the chromosome number, there are a few reports on more detailed cytogenetical studies. Blangiforti and Venora (1995) used an automated image analysis system to investigate karyotype morphology in two taxa of Eruca, viz. E. vesicaria subsp. sativa and subsp. pinnatifida, and their relative D. tenuifolia. All the plants analyzed showed a karyotype with 2n ¼ 22 chromosomes. The use of image analysis allowed a detailed description of chromosomal morphology. It is interesting to observe that the karyotypes of these three taxa do not differ strikingly from each other, suggesting little karyotype evolution, a finding somewhat confirming the vision of Warwick and Sauder (2005), who hypothesized a need of reconsidering the generic delimitation within the Brassicinae. Recently,


Lysak and Lexer (2006) have analyzed different taxa of the Brassiceae using molecular cytogenetic tools, including chromosome FISH, using chromosomespecific bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) from Arabidopsis thaliana. Although Eruca was not investigated in that study, the results demonstrate that a vast level of chromosome repatterning has occurred during the evolution of the Brassicaeae. These results do not easily comply with the observation of Blangiforti and Venora (1995); a possible explanation could be that this latter study regarded only two genera of the Brassicinae, viz. Eruca and Diplotaxis, while that of Lysak and Lexer (2006) only considered Diplotaxis erucoides (2n ¼ 14), not much related to D. tenuifolia, as a representative of this ranking level. Moreover, both studies did not include Brassica for a possible comparison. These and similar studies using molecular cytogenetic tools, including FISH, on extended DNA fibers have shown that it is possible to use currently available DNA libraries, such as those developed in A. thaliana or in Brassica species, to achieve a better understanding on the genome organization in Brassica and allied species and to obtain better insights into the mechanisms involved in the evolution of these complexes (Heslop-Harrison 2004; Alix et al 2005; Lysak et al. 2005; Yang et al. 2006; Howell et al. 2009). Zhang and Wessler (2005) have described a new family of short interspersed elements (SINEs), referred to as BoS family, widespread in Brassicaceae and present at some 2,000 copies in B. oleracea. SINEs are a family of retrotransposons diffused in the eukaryotic genomes. This new family shares structure and target site preference with previously described SINEs, and in addition, it possesses several unusual features. This study has demonstrated that BoS is the most abundant SINE family in Brassicaceae that is clearly differentiated from similar elements described in other taxonomic groups. The BoS family is further subdivided in a number of subfamilies sharing common features but clearly differentiated from each other. For this reason, Zhang and Wessler (2005) proposed the BoS retrotransposons as a valuable phylogenetic marker for resolving the still open questions in the evolution of species and genera in the Brassicaceae family. It appears that the molecular approaches described above can shed substantial light on many still unresolved taxonomical problems in the Brassicinae and could provide new powerful tools for breeding new

8 Eruca

varieties of different crops. This problem is not only related to food applications, but also to oil quality, as many Brassicinae are used for oil production. The growing demand for new oil qualities to fit the needs of the green chemistry or the production of renewable fuels (Cardone et al. 2003; Lazzeri et al. 2004) makes this an argument of extreme interest for geneticists and breeders.

8.7 Scope for Future Domestication and Commercialization In addition to food quality of Eruca and the need to meet the growing demands of an expanding market for this crop, and to the potential use of the genetic resources of this genus for addressing the scientific and technological problems, Eruca possesses pharmacological and biological activities. The organs of the plants are rich in glucosinolates and their derivatives, isothiocyanates. These compounds are the major organoleptic and bioactive elements of the Brassicaceae and a few other related families. Endogenous degradation of the glycosides liberates volatile, pungent products, which are responsible not only for flavor and smell of these plants, but also for their biological properties. The major degradation products are isothiocyanates, and to a minor extent, nitriles, thiocyanates, and thionocarbonates. Glucosinolates and/or their derivative products are known to possess fungicidal, bactericidal, and nematocidal activity (Zasada and Ferris 2004). Recently, research on these compounds has been stimulated by their cancer chemoprotective attributes (Higdon et al. 2007). As a counterpart, these compounds are also attributed negative characteristics such as antinutritional or goitrogenic (they can negatively affect thyroid functionality) properties. A review (Fahey et al. 2001) analyzes the complex family of these biologically active and chemically diverse compounds, which are so abundant in Brassica and in the Brassiceae. More recently, Bennett et al. (2006) have analyzed the content of secondary compounds, including glucosinolates in Diplotaxis and Eruca taxa. In addition, a similar work was done also by D’Antuono et al. (2008) but mostly with a phylogenetic scope. This study has evidenced that some Eruca accessions are relatively

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rich in glucosinolates and particularly in one compound, namely glucoraphanin. This is an important compound, since, under the action of the enzyme myrosinase, present in the leaves and released after chewing, and present also in the intestines of humans, it is converted to sulforaphanin, rapidly absorbed, transported systemically in the blood, metabolized, and excreted in the urine. In the process of uptake and elimination from the cells, sulforaphanin induces the formation of a variety of detoxifying and antioxidant peptides and proteins. Moreover, it exerts a direct antibiotic effect on Helicobacter pylori, the etiological agent of ulcers and gastritis, and a major risk factor for gastric cancer (Fahey et al. 2002). E. vesicaria has also been used as a model for glucosinolate biosynthesis investigations (Graser et al. 2000; Falk et al. 2004).

8.8 Some Dark Sides and Their Addressing: Recommendations for Future Actions Gene flow from wild or weedy Eruca to crop species is improbable because, as commented above, E. vesicaria is never too close to its nearest relatives. Recent studies of possible flow from Raphanus raphanistrum to B. rapa (Che`vre et al. 2004) might exemplify studies on this type of subject. Only interactions and competence between wild and cultivated or escaped Eruca might be a matter of concern. Still, Eruca is a weed and might be a host for several fungi and viruses that attack other cruciferous crops (Al-Shehbaz 1985). Regarding germplasm collection, Algeria still holds a high variability of wild susbsp. sativa in the northcentral of the country, as well as of subsp. vesicaria in the northwestern end. However, very few accessions of this area, if any, are now available in seed banks. As stated before, rocket is gaining a growing importance on the European market. This event is the result of several different events: the increase of research and development on this species, the diffusion of off-soil growing techniques, the increased mechanization in leaf production, the development of new promising varieties, and, last but not least, the diffusion of the fourth generation packaging


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technology to rocket (Padulosi and Pignone 1997; Morales and Janick 2002; Pignone 2004). Nevertheless, this new packaging technology also has a dark side that needs to be addressed. One problem comes from the growth of microorganisms in the package atmosphere. To better understand the microbial development, see Nielsen et al. (2008). To this end, cutleaves were decontaminated and then inoculated with selected microorganisms. The package was stored in different atmospheres and temperatures, and the accumulation of off-odors was monitored. Several compounds were detected, and sulfides were identified as the substances causing the unpleasant smell. Pseudomonadaceae and xanthamonadaceae were particularly effective in producing sulfides, and the level of oxygen and temperature were found to have a strong effect (Nielsen et al. 2008). Another problem that affects the shelf-life of rocket is yellowing, which is naturally induced by ethylene, even when the cut-leaves are stored at low temperatures. Koukounaras et al. (2006) have demonstrated that a treatment with 1-methylcyclopropene could prevent the action of ethylene in inducing yellowing on cut Eruca leaves and extending the shelf-life of some 20%. In another study, the same authors (Koukounaras et al. 2007) analyzed the influence of leaf age and postharvest conservation temperature on the product quality and shelf-life. They concluded that lower temperature, the best close to 0 C, reduces the emission of endogenous ethylene, leaf respiration, and overall metabolic activity, resulting in a reduced chlorophyll degradation, hence yellowing, and extension of shelf-life. The storage temperature appears to be a limiting factor especially when transportation of processed vegetable is considered, since the authors demonstrate that the usual temperatures employed in transportation are not adequate to fully develop the shelf-life potential of this crop. In addition to post-harvest problems, also some agronomic issues related to plant growth need to be explored. Pita Villamil et al. (2002), for instance, analyzed the influence of seed storage parameters on seed germination and plantlet development. This parameters are of great importance when off-soil growing techniques are applied, e.g., in floating beads over nutrient solution (D’Anna et al. 2003; Nicola et al. 2004), due to the mechanization process that these techniques imply. Soilless systems, in fact, are being

used for increasing yield and quality of vegetables. The floating system is easy and cheap and offers the possibility to increase the nutritional value of the crops by controlling the nutrient solution. The diffusion in recent years of studies regarding the advanced cultivation techniques, e.g., soilless, and post-harvest treatment of Eruca, once more demonstrates the growing importance of this emerging crop in the European economy. There is an increasing world demand for the amide of erucic acid (erucamide). Hydrogenation of erucic acid with subsequent fractionation yields behenyl alcohol, which is used in cosmetics and was used in large quantities as foam control in machine detergents. Esters and amides of behenic acid are used in lubricants for PVC and antiblocking agents for polyolefin films. Ozonolysis of erucic acid yields brassylic acid used in the manufacture of polyamides (nylon 6/13 and 13/13) and esters, which are used as low temperature plasticizers and as lubricant components. Current world production of erucic acid is 25,000 million t/annum. Consumption of high erucic acid (HEA) in the EU was 40,000 t/annum in 2000 and has increased to 55,000 t/annum by 2005. The largest current applications for HEA oil are in polymer additives and detergents. As crude oil is biodegradable, it provides an alternative to mineral oil in many industrial applications. It has wide application in the steel casting industry and as a lubricant for chainsaws. Eruca is a nutritious vegetable, and although not everybody appreciates its characteristic pungent flavor, more attention should be given to its production and improvement. Sufficient genetic variation exists to be able to modify its taste. It also deserves further testing as an oil (edible or industrial) seed crop for drought-prone regions, since it tolerates high salinity and low rainfall conditions.

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8 Eruca Al-Shehbaz IA, Beilstein MA, Kellogg EA (2006) Systematics and phylogeny of the Brassicaceae (Cruciferae): an overview. Plant Syst Evol 259:89–120 Balter M (2007) Seeking agriculture’s ancient roots. Science 316:1830–1835 Bansal VK, Tewari JP, Tewari I, Go´mez-Campo C, Stringam GR (1997) Genus Eruca: a potential source of white rust resistance in cultivated brassicas. Plant Genet Resour Newsl 109:25–26 Barillari J, Canistro D, Paolini M, Ferroni F, Pedulli GF, Iori R, Valgimigli L (2005) Direct antioxidant activity of purified glucoerucin, the dietary secondary metabolite contained in rocket (Eruca sativa Mill.) seeds and sprouts. J Agric Food Chem 53(7):2475–2482 Bennett RN, Rosa EAS, Mellon FA, Kroon PA (2006) Ontogenic profile of glucosinolates, flavonoids, and other secondary metabolites in Eruca sativa (salad rocket), Diplotaxis erucoides (wall rocket), Diplotaxis tenuifolia (wild rocket) and Bunias orientalis (Turkish rocket). J Agric Food Chem 54:4005–4015 Blangiforti S, Venora G (1995) Cytological study on rocket species by means of image analysis system. In: Padulosi S (ed) Rocket genetic resources network. Report of the first meeting, Lisbon, Portugal, 13–15 Nov 1994. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, Italy, pp 36–40 Cardone M, Mazzoncini M, Menini S, Rocco V, Senatore A, Seggiani M, Vitolo S (2003) Brassica carinata as an alternative oil crop for the production of biodiesel in Italy: agronomic evaluation, fuel production by transesterification and characterization. Biomass Bioenerg 25:623–636 Che`vre A-M, Ammitzbøll H, Breckling B, Dietz-Pfeilstetter A, Eber F, Fargue A, Go´mez-Campo C, Jenczewski E, Jørgensen R, Lavigne C, Meier MS, Den Nijs HCM, Pascher K, Seguin-Swartz G, Sweet J, Jr S, Warwick S (2004) A review on interspecific gene flow from oilseed rape to wild relatives. In: den Nijs HCM, Bartsch D, Sweet J (eds) Introgression from genetically modified plants into wild relatives and its consequences. CABI, Wallingford, pp 235–251 D’Antuono LF, Elementi S, Neri R (2008) Glucosinolates in Diplotaxis and Eruca leaves: diversity, taxonomic relations and applied aspects. Phytochemistry 69:187–199 D’Anna F, Miceli A, Vetrano F (2003) First results of floating system cultivation of Eruca sativa L. Acta Hortic 609: 361–364 Fahey JW, Zalcmann AT, Talalay P (2001) The chemical diversity and distribution of glucosinolates and isothiocyanates among plants. Phytochemistry 56:5–51 Fahey JW, Haristoy X, Dolan PM, Kensler TW, Scholtus I, Stephenson KK, Talalay P, Lozniewski A (2002) Sulforaphane inhibits extracellular, intracellular, and antibiotic-resistant strains of Helicobacter pylori and prevents benzo[a]pyreneinduced stomach tumors. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99: 7610–7615 Fahleson J, Rahlen L, Glimelius K (1988) Analysis of plants regenerated from protoplast fusions between Brassica napus and Eruca sativa. Theor Appl Genet 76(4):507–512 Fahleson J, Lagercrantz U, Mouras A, Glimelius K (1997) Characterization of somatic hybrids between Brassica napus and Eruca sativa using species-specific repetitive sequences and genomic in situ hybridization. Plant Sci 123:133–142

159 Falk KL, Vogel C, Textor S, Bartram S, Hick A, Pickett JA, Gershenzon J (2004) Glucosinolate biosynthesis: demonstration and characterisation of the condensing enzyme of the chain elongation cycle in Eruca sativa. Phytochemistry 65:1073–1084 Go´mez-Campo C (1993) Eruca Mill. In: Castroviejo S et al (eds) Flora Iberica, vol IV, Cruciferae-Monotropaceae. Real Jardıń Botańico, Madrid, Spain, pp 390–392 Go´mez-Campo C (1999) Biology of Brassica coenospecies. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 487 p Go´mez-Campo C (2003a) Morphological characterisation of Eruca vesicaria (Cruciferae) germplasm. Bocconea 16: 615–624 Go´mez-Campo C (2003b) The genus Guenthera Andr. In: Bess. (Brassicaceae, Brassiceae). Anal Jard Bot Madrid 60(2): 301–307 Go´mez-Campo C, Prakash S (1999) Origin and domestication. In: Go´mez-Campo C (ed) Biology of Brassica coenospecies. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 33–58 Graser G, Schneider B, Oldham NJ, Gershenzon J (2000) The methionine chain elongation pathway in the biosynthesis of glucosinolates in Eruca sativa (Brassicaceae). Arch Biochem Biophys 378:411–419 Gunther RT (1933) The Greek herbal of Dioscorides, illustrated by a Byzantine, A.D. 512; English edition by John Goodyear. A.D. 1655. Hafner, New York, USA Hammer K (1988) Preadaptation and the domestication of crops and weeds. Biol Zentblt 107:631–636 (in German, English Summary) Harberd DJ (1972) A contribution to the cyto-taxonomy of Brassica (Cruciferae) and its allies. Bot J Linn Soc 65(1): 1–23 Heslop-Harrison JS (2004) The diversity of retroelements in diploid and allotetraploid Brassica species. Plant Mol Biol 54:895–909 Higdon JV, Delage B, Williams DE, Dashwood RH (2007) Cruciferous vegetables and human cancer risk: epidemiologic evidence and mechanistic basis. Pharmacol Res 55:224–236 Howell EC, Kearsey M, Jones G, King GJ, Armstrong SJ (2009) A and C genome distinction and chromosome identification in Brassica napus by sequential FISH and GISH. Genetics. doi:10.1534/genetics.108.095893 Ibn Oaf HS (2004) Eruca vesicaria (L.) Cav. [Internet] Record from Protabase. In: Grubben GJH, Denton OA (eds) PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa/Ressources ve´ge´tales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands Koukounaras A, Siomos AS, Sfakiotakis E (2006) 1-Methylcyclopropene prevents ethylene induced yellowing of rocket leaves. Postharvest Biol Technol 41:109–111 Koukounaras A, Siomos AS, Sfakiotakis E (2007) Postharvest CO2 and ethylene production and quality of rocket (Eruca sativa Mill.) leaves as affected by leaf age and storage temperature. Postharvest Biol Technol 46:167–173 Lazzeri L, Errani M, Leoni O, Venturi G (2004) Eruca sativa spp. oleifera: a new non-food crop. Ind Crops Prod 20:67–73 Leskovsˇek L, Jaksˇe M, Bohanec B (2008) Doubled haploid production in rocket (Eruca sativa Mill.) through isolated microspore culture. Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 93:181–189

160 Lysak MA, Lexer C (2006) Towards the era of comparative evolutionary genomics in Brassicaceae. Plant Syst Evol 259:175–198 Lysak MA, Koch MA, Pecinka A, Schubert I (2005) Chromosome triplication found across the tribe Brassiceae. Genome Res 15:516–525 Magrath R, Mithen R (1997) How do we use Eruca to improve Brassica crops? In: Padulosi S, Pignone D (eds) Rocket: a Mediterranean crop for the world. Report of a workshop, Legnaro (Padova), IPGRI, Rome, Italy, 13–14 Dec 1996, pp 23–24 Marhold K, Lihova´ J (2006) Polyploidy, hybridization and reticulate evolution: lessons from the Brassicaceae. Plant Syst Evol 259:143–174 Morales M, Janick J (2002) Arugula: a promising specialty leaf vegetable. In: Janick J, Whipkey A (eds) Trends in new crops and new uses. ASHS, Alexandria, VA, USA, pp 418–423 Nicola S, Hoeberechts J, Fontana E (2004) Rocket (Eruca sativa Mill.) and corn salad (Valerianella olitoria L.): production and shelf-life of two leafy vegetables grown in a soilless culture system. Acta Hortic 633:509–516 Nielsen T, Bergstro¨m B, Borch E (2008) The origin of offodours in packaged rucola (Eruca sativa). Food Chem 110:96–105 Nuez F, Hernańdez-Bermejo JE (1994) Neglected horticultural crops. In: Hernańdez-Bermejo JE, Leoń J (eds) Neglected crops: 1492 from a different perspective. Plant Production and Protection Series No 26. FAO, Rome, Italy, pp 303–332 Padulosi S (1995) Rocket genetic resources network. Report of the first meeting, Lisbon, Portugal, 13–15 Nov 1994. IPGRI, Rome, Italy Padulosi S, Pignone D (1997) Rocket: a Mediterranean crop for the world. Report of a workshop, Legnaro (Padova), Italy, 13–14 Dec 1996. IPGRI, Rome, Italy Pe´rez-Garcıá F, Gonza´lez-Benito ME, Go´mez-Campo C (2007) High viability recorded in ultra-dry seeds of 37 species of Brassiceae after almost 40 years of storage. Seed Sci Technol 35:143–153 Pignone D (2004) Case 11: Rocket (Italy). In: Breitschuh U (2004) Marketing strategies and capacity strengthening to realise the economical potential of underutilized plant species. Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species, Worms, March 2004, pp 45–47 Pignone D (2009) Men and plants: a history inscribed in words, drawings and DNA. J Agric Rural Dev Trop Subtrop 92 (Suppl):73–85 Pita Villamil JM, Pe´rez-Garcıá F, Martıńez-Laborde JB (2002) Time of seed collection and germination in rocket, Eruca vesicaria (L.) Cav. (Brassicaceae). Genet Resour Crop Evol 49:47–51 Pradhan AK, Prakash S, Mukhopadhyay A, Pental D (1992) Phylogeny of Brassica and allied genera based on variation in chloro-plast and mitochondrial DNA patterns. Molecular and taxonomic classifications are incongruous. Theor Appl Genet 85:331–340 Prakash S, Bhat SR, Quiros CF, Kirti PB, Chopra VL (2009) Brassica and its close allies: cytogenetics and evolution. Plant Breed Rev 31:21–187 Sikdar SR, Chatterjee G, Das S, Sen SK (1990) “Erussica”, the intergeneric fertile somatic hybrid developed through protoplast fusion between Eruca sativa Lam. and Brassica juncea (L.). Theor Appl Genet 79:561–567

D. Pignone and C. Go´mez-Campo Sobrino-Vesperinas E (1995) Diferencias morfolo´gicas e interfertilidad entre las especies arvenses Eruca vesicaria (L.) Cav. y Eruca sativa Miller. Actas Congreso Sociedad Espanõla de Malherbologıá, pp 153–156 Song KM, Osborn TC, Williams PH (1990) Brassica taxonomy based on nuclear restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs). Theor Appl Genet 79:497–506 Specht CE, Diederichsen A (2001) Eruca. In: Hanelt P (ed) Mansfeld’s encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops, vol 3. Springer, Berlin, pp 1470–1472 Tewari JP, Bansal VK, Tewari I, Go´mez-Campo C, Stringam GR, Thiagara-Jah MR (1996) Reactions of some wild and cultivated accessions of Eruca against Leptosphaeria maculans. Cruciferae Newsl 18:130–131 Tutin TG (1993) Eruca. In: Tutin TG, Burges NA, Chater AO, Edmondson JR, Heywood VH, Moore DM, Valentine DH, Walters SM, Webb DA (eds) Flora Europaea, vol 1, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 410 Uphof JCTh (1963) Dictionary of economic plants. Cramer, New York, USA Warwick SI (1995) New taxonomic views within Eruca and Diplotaxis genera in the light of hybridization and molecular findings. In: Padulosi S (ed) Rocket genetic resources network. Report of the first meeting, Lisbon, Portugal, 13–15 Nov 1994. IPGRI, Rome, Italy, pp 22–34 Warwick SI, Al-Shehbaz IA (2006) Brassicaceae: chromosome number index and database on CD-Rom. Plant Syst Evol 259:237–248 Warwick SI, Black LD (1991) Molecular systematics of Brassica and allied genera (Subtribe Brassicinae, Brassiceae) – chloroplast genome and cytodeme congruence. Theor Appl Genet 82:81–92 Warwick SI, Sauder C (2005) Phylogeny of tribe Brassiceae (Brassicaceae) based on chloroplast restriction site polymorphisms and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer and chloroplast trnL intron sequences. Can J Bot 83:467–483 Warwick SI, Gugel RK, Go´mez-Campo C, James T (2007) Genetic variation in Eruca vesicaria (L.) Cav. Plant Genet Resour Charact Util 5(3):142–153 Yadava TP, Friedt DW, Gupta SK (1998) Oil content and fatty acid composition of Taramira (Eruca sativa L.) genotypes. J Food Sci Technol 35:557–558 Yanagino T, Takahata Y, Hinata K (1987) Chloroplast DNA variation among diploid species in Brassica and allied genera. Jpn J Genet 83:839–850 Yang K, Qi HY, Zhu LQ, Wang XJ (2006) Localization of S genes on extended DNA fibers (EDFs) in Brassica oleracea by high-resolution FISH. Acta Genet Sin 33:277–284 Yaniv Z (1997) Tradition, uses and research on rocket in Israel. In: Padulosi S, Pignone D (eds) Rocket: a Mediterranean crop for the world. Report of a workshop, Legnaro (Padova), Italy, 13–14 Dec 1996. IPGRI, Rome, Italy, pp 76–80 Yaniv Z, Schafferman D, Amar Z (1998) Tradition, uses and biodiversity of rocket (Eruca sativa, Brassicaceae) in Israel. Econ Bot 52(4):394–400 Zasada IA, Ferris H (2004) Nematode suppression with brassicaceous amendments: application based upon glucosinolate profiles. Soil Biol Biochem 36:1017–1024 Zhang X, Wessler SR (2005) BoS: a large and diverse family of short interspersed elements (SINEs) in Brassica oleracea. J Mol Evol 60:677–687

Chapter 9

Helianthus Felicity Vear

9.1 Introduction The genus Helianthus originated in North America and the wild species now found in other continents are almost certainly introductions. Wild forms of Helianthus annuus, the species now largely cultivated, are extremely common weeds in many parts of the US. Domestication of this species is generally thought to have been in the US, although there are some suggestions that it could have occurred in Mexico. The other Helianthus species have varying distributions in the US, Canada, and Mexico. It should be noted that the first real development of sunflower as an oilseed crop occurred in Russia during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and the renewed interest in wild Helianthus, H. annuus, or other species, as a source of variability for breeding cultivated sunflowers is quite recent (the 1970s) .

9.2 Taxonomy (After Seiler and Gulya 2004) The identification of sunflower species has long been problematic. Heiser et al. (1969) felt that the greatest contribution of his sustained efforts to understand sunflower taxonomy was not providing an easy way Felicity Vear INRA, UMR 1095, Domaine de Crouelle, 234, Ave du Brezet, 63100 Clermont Ferrand, France e-mail: [email protected] This article is based on reviews and articles by specialists in this field, particularly G. Seiler and C. C. Jan (USDA, Fargo, ND, USA), E. Schilling, Tennessee University, Knoxville, TE, USA, H. Serieys and A. Berville´ (INRA, Montpellier, France), D. Skoric (IFVC, Novi-Sad, Serbia), and M. Christov (DAI, General Toshevo, Bulgaria).

to identify sunflowers, but rather an explanation for why they are so difficult. The taxonomic complexity of the genus Helianthus stems from many different factors. Natural hybridization and introgression occur between many of the species, often resulting in morphological intergradation between otherwise distinct forms. Polyploidy in the perennial species also contributes to the complexity of species classification in Helianthus. This has led to various taxonomic treatments of the genus. There are still specimens, variously of hybrid origin or growing in unusual conditions or incompletely collected, which defy certain placement into a single species. Since many of the species are wide ranging geographically, they exhibit extensive phenotypic variation, which appears to include both heritable and non-heritable (environmental) components. Many species are also genetically quite variable, making rigorous identification and classification difficult. The genus Helianthus has been considered to comprise only ten species to more than 200. Linnaeus described nine species in 1753. Asa Gray (1889) recognized 42 species in North America. In the early twentieth century, Watson (1929) accepted 108 species, 15 of them from South America. Heiser et al. (1969) recognized 14 annual species and 36 perennial species from North America in three sections and seven series, as well as 17 species from South America. Subsequently, Robinson (1979) transferred 20 perennial species of South American Helianthus to the genus Helianthopsis. The taxonomic classification of Helianthus by Anashchenko (1974, 1979) was a radical departure from all previous schemes. He recognized only one annual species, H. annuus (with three subspecies and six varieties), and only nine perennial species with 13 subspecies. Schilling and Heiser (1981) proposed an infrageneric classification


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of Helianthus, using phenetic, cladistic, and biosystematic procedures, which place 49 species of Helianthus in four sections and six series. The classification of Schilling and Heiser (1981) is presented here with the following six modifications. First, the sectional name Atrorubens used by Anashchenko (1974) has taxonomic priority; thus, the section Divaricati of Schilling and Heiser is replaced by section Atrorubens Anashchenko. Second, Helianthus exilis is recognized as a species as opposed to an ecotype of H. bolanderi (Oliveri and Jain 1977). Third, the species name H. pauciflorus has priority over H. rigidus and is treated accordingly. Fourth, Viguiera porteri has been transferred to Helianthus porteri (Pruski 1998). Fifth, Helianthus verticillatus has been rediscovered and redescribed and is now recognized as a species (Matthews et al. 2002). Sixth, Helianthus niveus ssp. canescens has been transferred to Helianthus petiolaris ssp. canescens. This brings species number to 51, with 14 annual and 37 perennial (Table 9.1).

9.3 Conservation Initiatives (After Seiler and Gulya 2004) Preservation of wild sunflower species populations is critical because there are insufficient resources to preserve all wild species and locally adapted sunflower populations in seed banks. Furthermore, a significant proportion of wild diversity would likely be lost while regenerating banked germplasm accessions. Unfortunately, the long-term outlook for survival of a number of sunflower species is not promising; some species are already rare and endangered, and H. nuttallii T. and G. ssp. parishii (A. Gray) Heiser has probably become extinct. Efforts to conserve the wild sunflower species will have to be a combination of preserving some of the species as populations in nature and also collecting of seeds for gene bank preservation. The collection efforts have resulted in the assemblage of the USDA-ARS wild species collection that is the most complete collection in the world. It is presently located at the National Plant Germplasm System, Plant Introduction Station at Ames, IA. Currently, the wild Helianthus collection contains 2,163 accessions, about two-thirds of which are annual species (Brothers and Seiler 2002). The germplasm collection contains seeds or rootstocks from populations of all but one

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species, H. laciniatus, and one subspecies, H. niveus ssp. niveus, but lacks sufficient populations of many species to be completely representative of the genetic variability in nature. The wild species collection maintained at INRA, Montpellier, France, has more than 600 accessions of 45 wild sunflower species (Serieys 1992). Notable also are the collections at the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Novi Sad, Serbia (39 wild species, Cuk and Seiler 1985), and at the Dobroudja Agricultural Institute (DAI) at General Toshevo, Bulgaria, where 428 accessions represent 37 species of Helianthus (Christov et al. 2001). While progress has been made in the collection and preservation of the wild sunflower species, the present germplasm collection contains only a portion of the available genetic variability in Helianthus. Additional populations of several species should be collected; particularly those species that are endangered, threatened, or indigenous to habitats where development is threatening.

9.4 Use of Molecular Markers to Improve Taxonomy (After Schilling 2000 and Sossey-Alaoui et al. 1999) 9.4.1 Definition of the Genus Helianthus Schilling (2000) considered that the systematics of Helianthus and its relatives has been largely influenced by the influx of molecular phylogenetic data. An initial molecular data set (Schilling and Jansen 1989; Schilling 1997) was based on restriction site analysis of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA), which was one of the first approaches to have widespread use in plant phylogenetic studies. The resulting tree thus represents a maternal gene tree, because the chloroplast genome is mostly inherited maternally in flowering plants and is rarely if at all subject to recombination. A data set from sequencing of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) has also been obtained (Schilling and Panero 1996; Schilling et al. 1998), which provides a second, independent gene tree. The results from cpDNA and ITS analyses are mostly but not entirely congruent. The availability of molecular data has made it possible to refine with confidence the circumscription of Helianthus. As a result, several species or groups of

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Table 9.1 Classification of Helianthus species (after Seiler and Gulya 2004) Section-series Species (n) Section-series Species Helianthus Atrorubens Corona-solis H. annuus L. 17 H. californicus DC. H. anomalus Blake 17 H. decapetalus L. H. argophyllus T.& G. 17 H. divaricatus L. H. bolanderi A. Gray 17 H. eggertii H. debilis H. giganteus L. ssp. debilis Nutt. 17 H. grosseserratus Martins ssp. cucumerifolius (T & G) Heiser 17 H. hirsutus Raf ssp. silvestris Heiser 17 H. maximiliani Schrader ssp. tardiflorus Heiser 17 H. mollis Lam. ssp. vestitus (Watson) Heiser 17 H. nuttallii H. deserticola Heiser 17 ssp. nuttallii T.and G. H. exilis A. Gray 17 ssp. rydbergii (Brit.)Long H. neglectus Heiser 17 H. resinosus Small H. niveus H. salicifolius Dietr. ssp. niveus (Benth.) Brandegee 17 H. schweinitzii T.and G. ssp. tephrodes (Gray) Heiser 17 H. strumosus L. H. paradoxus Heiser 17 H. tuberosus L. H. petiolaris Atrorubens Microcephali ssp. canescens (AGray)Schilling 17 H. glaucophyllus Smith ssp. fallax Heiser 17 H. laevigatus T.and G. ssp. Petiolaris 17 H. microcephalus T.and G. H. praecox H. smithii Heiser ssp. hirtus Heiser 17 Atrorubens Atrorubentes ssp. praecox Englm & AGray 17 H. atrorubens L. ssp. runyonii Heiser 17 H. occidentalis Agrestes ssp. occidentalis Riddell H. agrestis Pollard 17 ssp. plantagineus (T & G)Heis. Porteri H. pauciflorus H. porteri (A. Gray) Pruski (Schilling and 17 ssp. pauciflorus Stiff Heiser 1981) Ciliares Pumili ssp. Subrhomboides (Rd) Spring H. arizonensis R. 17 H. silphioides Nutt. H. ciliaris DC. 34, 51 Atrorubens Angustifolii H. laciniatus A.Gray 17 H. angustifolius L. Ciliares Pumili H. carnosus H. cusickii A.Gray 17 H. floridanus Gray Chapman H. gracilentus A.Gray 17 H. heterophyllus Nutt. H. pumilus Nutt. 17 H. longifolius Pursh H. radula (Pursh)T.and G. 17 H. simulans E.E.Wats. H. verticillatus Small (Schilling and 17 Heiser 1981)

species can certainly be excluded from it, and two species of questionable affinities have been included. As now circumscribed, Helianthus is geographically coherent, being restricted to North America, but it is not easily diagnosed morphologically. The key feature that classically identifies Helianthus within subtribe Helianthinae is the caducous pappus of two awns, with few or no intervening scales. Helianthus is

(n) 51 17, 34 17 51 17 17 34 17 17 17 17 51 17 51 43, 51 51

34 17 17, 34 17 17 17 51 51 17 17 17 17 17 17 17

also characterized by the pales that are trilobed at the apex. Both these features are homoplasious in subtribe Helianthinae and are found in other groups. Furthermore, they are both absent in one species, now included in Helianthus, H. porteri. A third feature that is found throughout Helianthus is the well-developed terminal style appendage, but a similar structure is also observed in a few other members of the subtribe.

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Molecular data allow confirmation of the placement in Helianthus of two species whose affinities were not certain. The placement of one, H. agrestis, had been questioned because it has several distinctive traits for Helianthus, including tuberculate cypselas and self-compatibility. The other species, H. porteri, has been placed in Viguiera (or in Heliomeris by those who recognize it as distinct) by most botanists. The molecular data, however, agree with chromosome number, crossing behavior, and biogeographic evidence in indicating that H. porteri is accurately placed in Helianthus. The inclusion of H. porteri in Helianthus creates a problem in the morphological circumscription of the genus because it lacks two of the three apparent synapomorphies of the genus. The pales of H. porteri are not trilobed at the apex, and it entirely lacks a pappus. It does, however, have the prominent terminal style appendage that characterizes Helianthus. There are several other members of subtribe Helianthinae that exhibit a similar terminal style appendage, so there is not a single absolute synapomorphy to allow morphological diagnosis of Helianthus.

9.4.2 Divergence Within Helianthus The most striking feature of molecular phylogenetic studies of Helianthus to date is that there is strikingly little variation within the genus for either ITS or cpDNA. The lack of divergence in particular has limited the conclusions that can be drawn regarding relationships within Helianthus. This observation was extended by our recent survey of variation for the trnT–trnF spacer/intron region. Comparison of H. porteri, H. angustifolius, and H. giganteus revealed only two base pair changes and six insertion/deletion changes from a total of 1,417 bases that were sequenced for this region of the cpDNA genome. By contrast, studies of this gene region in other plant families have revealed extensive variation, sometimes even within a single species. The incongruence between results from cpDNA and ITS data sets for relationships within Helianthus is not readily explainable, although it may reflect past hybridization between different lineages. The cpDNA results would suggest a relatively straightforward division of the genus into four main lineages, with Phoebanthus as part of the perennial group. The ITS data suggest a

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more complex scenario in which the perennial species are paraphyletic to the rest of the genus, based on placement of H. heterophyllus and H. carnosus as basally branching clades. In the ITS tree, Phoebanthus is placed as the sister group to Helianthus rather than as part of the perennials. Neither the tree from cpDNA nor the one based on ITS is in accord with the current infrageneric classification of Helianthus of Schilling and Heiser (1981). Section Helianthus, which contains the bulk of the annual species including H. annuus, is shown to be monophyletic in both trees. Both trees also place the peculiar annual species, H. agrestis and H. porteri, as distinctive lineages. In neither tree is H. sect. ciliares shown to be monophyletic. For the most part, however, there are few differences among the perennial species from either data set. The lack of variation leaves unresolved the relationships of the polyploid species of Helianthus, all of which are perennial. It has not been possible even to identify the maternal genome of any of the polyploids. The only exception to this involves the sterile triploid, H. multiflorus, in which it has been possible to show that the cpDNA genome is from a polyploid species and that it contains rDNA genomes from both H. annuus and a perennial species. Thus, further work is needed to identify molecular markers that show the appropriate, high level of variation that will be needed to resolve relationships of the polyploid species of Helianthus. It is potentially notable that the basally diverging clades of Helianthus in the ITS tree all are species of the extreme southeastern US with relatively narrow geographic distributions. This suggests the hypothesis that after migration to North America from a probably Mexican origin, the ancestral lineage to Helianthus may have been limited during glaciation events to areas near the southeastern coastline. Thus, Phoebanthus, H. carnosus, H. heterophyllus, H. agrestis, and H. porteri may represent relictual species from one or more early rounds of divergence in Helianthus. The subsequent migration from the southeastern US across much of North America and differentiation to form the current suite of species may have been relatively recent. Using nuclear DNA markers, annual and perennial species have been found to differ in their genomic constitution. Sossey-Alaoui et al. (1999) reported studies of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) on 36 Helianthus species. Of the 118 RAPD

9 Helianthus

fragments analyzed, 33 were common to all Helianthus species, 29 were unique to section Helianthus, and 56 to perennial species, of which 24 were only found in the section Atrorubentes. None were specific to the Ciliares section. Phenetic trees constructed using Jaccard distances and Sokal and Michener similarity were very similar to the current taxonomy. Each set of common or specific fragments was assumed to belong to a genome (1) the C-genome carrying the fragments common to all species of the three sections, (2) the Hgenome unique to sect. Helianthus, (3) the P-genome common to perennial species (sects. Atrorubentes and Ciliares), and (4) the A-genome unique to sect. Atrorubentes. The genomic structure was therefore HC for sect. Helianthus, CPA for sect. Atrorubentes, and CP for sect. Ciliares. Molecular hybridizations with amplification products revealed homologies between Helianthus genomes and several other genera in the Helianthinae subtribe.

9.5 Hybridization (After Christov et al. 1996; Faure et al. 2002; Jan et al. 2008) Christov et al. (1996) reported that the progenies of interspecific hybrids could be characterized by extremely wide formative processes, which could give rise to new characters in sunflower. With annual species, the F1 hybrids may be very vigorous (an example is shown in Fig. 9.1) and may give sufficient seed set, and this is often true also when further generations are backcrossed to cultivated sunflower, sibcrossed, or even selfed. In contrast, there are difficulties with producing the second generation of hybrids obtained from perennial species because of partial or total sterility of F1 plants. It is useless to self-pollinate them, and most will not give seed even when open-pollinated. These authors found that pollination with cultivated sunflower pollen is the most successful procedure to overcome this barrier. Pollen may be collected from several different lines or varieties and this is mixed with pollen from the interspecific F1 plants, which are pollinated with this mixture. This operation can be repeated over several generations. The disadvantage is that the genotype of the pollen that gives seed is unknown.

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The poor crossability and frequent F1 sterility in interspecific hybrids limit the usefulness of many wild Helianthus species. Abortion of the hybrid embryo is one mechanism that prevents interspecific hybridization. An embryo rescue technique has facilitated the success of several interspecific crosses (Chandler and Beard 1983). Sterility associated with meiotic abnormalities of F1s can be decreased by doubling chromosomes using colchicine (Jan and Chandler 1985). Colchicine treatment of interspecific F1 hybrids resulted in high frequencies of chromosome doubling and the production of amphiploids (Jan and Fernańdez-Martıńez 2002). The tetraploid amphiploids produced included crosses of sunflower H. bolanderi, H. gracilentus sunflower, H. grosseserratus sunflower, and H. cusickii sunflower. These amphiploids had restored fertility and provided easily available genetic diversity for the improvement of cultivated sunflower. The first hexaploid amphiploids in sunflower were produced from crosses of H. hirsutus sunflower and H. strumosus sunflower. These interspecific amphiploids should enable the establishment of a number of chromosome addition lines for genetic studies of specific chromosomes of both cultivated and wild Helianthus species. The low fertility associated with some interspecific crosses presents a serious impediment to hybridization, but such infertility sometimes can be overcome by using different populations of species for crossing. Some populations of a species have variable pollen staining indicating differences in pollen fertility (Rieseberg et al. 1995). Another problem observed

Fig. 9.1 Helianthus argophyllus (on the left) and hybrids between this species and cultivated sunflower (on the right) (photo INRA Clermont-Ferrand)

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in interspecific crosses is achene dormancy. A very useful technique using achene scarification and a low level of growth hormone (GA3) has increased germination to 70% in interspecific crosses as well as in wild species populations, especially perennial species (Chandler and Jan 1985). Crosses between the cultivated sunflower and annual species belonging to the section Helianthus have been produced without difficulty, but the resulting progenies are more or less male-sterile due to translocations (Quillet et al. 1995). In such crosses – mainly performed for breeding – sunflower is usually used as the female parent, unless the objective of the study is to transfer the cytoplasm of the wild form (Serieys 1999). Crosses between sunflower and perennial species belonging to section Atrorubentes are more difficult to perform except when the male is polyploid, such as Jerusalem artichoke (H. tuberosus). Crosses with the diploid species H. occidentalis, H. maximiliani, and H. mollis are difficult to obtain. As an example, when Faure et al. (2002) crossed cultivated sunflower with H. mollis, 62 plants were obtained naturally from mature seeds, 22 others following embryo rescue procedures, and only 22 from the reciprocal cross following natural seed development. All of the resulting plants were found to be diploid 2n ¼ 34 but reciprocal crosses led to different progenies, with phenotypes that were predominantly similar to those of the female parent, sunflower or H. mollis, especially after natural seed development. The embryo rescue procedure enhanced the level of partial hybridization, determined using RAPD or restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers but with a maximum of 8.5 markers from the male parent where normal hybridization should have given 25. Figure 9.2 shows an F4 plant selected from this cross with sessile leaves characteristic of H. mollis.

F. Vear

estimate is $269.5 million per year (Philips and Meilleur 1998). The greatest value is derived from the PET1 cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) cytoplasm from H. petiolaris (Fig. 9.3). The main characters introduced into cultivated sunflower from wild Helianthus are the following:

9.6.1 Cytoplasmic Male Sterility Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is a maternally inherited trait preventing plants from producing normal pollen. It is used to generate F1 hybrids in sunflower, which is now the second largest hybrid crop in the world. Almost all the hybrids in the world use a single cytoplasm derived from wild H. petiolaris (Leclercq 1969). Several research programs generating alloplasmic combinations have identified 62 new

Fig. 9.2 F4 plant from a cross between sunflower and Helianthus mollis (photo INRA, Montpellier)

9.6 Economic Value of Wild Helianthus Species (After Seiler and Gulya 2004; Seiler 2002; Skoric 1992) Wild species have contributed many agronomically important traits to cultivated sunflower. The estimated economic value of the contribution of the wild species to cultivated sunflower is $384 million per year (Prescott-Allen and Prescott-Allen 1986). Another

Fig. 9.3 Helianthus petiolaris (photo Clarence A. Rechenthin @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database)

9 Helianthus

sources of male sterile cytoplasms, 40 annual and 12 perennial (Serieys 1999), and in most cases, the necessary fertility restoration genes have been obtained from the same species. However, all these cytoplasms are mostly used only in experimental crosses or are kept in reserve, in case of a problem with the PET1 cytoplasm.

9.6.2 Disease Resistance Wild sunflower species have been one of the few sources of resistance genes for many of the common pathogens of cultivated sunflower. H. annuus, H. petiolaris, and H. praecox are the major sources of genes for Verticillium wilt (Verticillium dahliae) resistance (Hoes et al. 1973). These species plus H. argophyllus are also the major sources of resistance genes for downy mildew (Plasmopara halstedii) and rust (Puccinia helianthi) in cultivated sunflower (Quresh et al. 1993). Resistance genes for these pathogens occur frequently in the wild annual species (Tan et al. 1992). Resistance to broomrape (Orobanche cernua) has been observed in most of the wild perennial species (Jan and Fernandez-Martinez 2002) and annual H. anomalus. Phoma black stem (Phoma macdonaldii) resistance has been reported in several perennial species including H. decapetalus, H. resinosus, and H. tuberosus (Skoric 1985). Phomopsis stem canker (Diaporthe helianthi) resistance has also been found in perennials such as H. maximiliani, H. pauciflorus, and H. hirsutus (Skoric 1985). Alternaria leaf spot (Alternaria helianthi) resistance was observed in perennials H. hirsutus, H. pauciflorus, and H. tuberosus (Morris et al. 1983). Sclerotinia (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) head rot tolerance was observed in many perennials such as H. resinosus and H. pauciflorus (MondolotCosson and Andary 1994; Ronicke et al. 2004). Sclerotinia root and mid-stalk rot tolerance was observed in perennials including H. resinosus and H. tuberosus (Skoric 1987; Ko¨hler and Friedt 1999).

9.6.3 Insect Resistance Wild sunflowers are native to North America where their associated insect herbivores and entomophages coevolved in natural communities, making it logical to

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search for insect resistance genes in the diverse wild species. Sunflower moth (Homoeosoma electellum) tolerance was observed in annual H. petiolaris and perennials such as H. maximiliani and H. ciliaris (Rogers et al. 1984). Stem weevil (Cylindrocopturus adspersus) tolerance was found in perennials including H. grosseserratus, H. hirsutus, and H. salicifolius (Rogers and Seiler 1985). Sunflower beetle (Zygogramma exclamationis) tolerance was observed both in annuals H. agrestis and H. praecox and in many perennial species (Rogers and Thompson 1980).

9.6.4 Oil Quality Reduced concentrations of saturated palmitic and stearic fatty acids have been observed in a population of wild H. annuus, which had a combined palmitic and stearic acid concentration of 58 g kg1 (Seiler 1998), this is 50% lower than in oil of cultivated sunflower. A combined palmitic and stearic acid concentration of 65 g kg1 was observed in a wild perennial species, H. giganteus (Seiler and Brothers 1999).

9.6.5 Salt and Drought Tolerance Several species of Helianthus are native to saltimpacted habitats. Interspecific germplasm derived from H. paradoxus has been identified with high salt tolerance withstanding salt concentrations up to EC 24.7 dSm1. It appears that one major gene controls salt tolerance, although a modifier gene may also be present, possibly recessive in control. Evaluation of 19 perennial and one annual wild sunflower species indicated that perennial species had higher diffusive resistance, transpiration, and stomatal densities than annual species (Seiler 1983). In all perennial species, stomatal densities were higher on the bottom surface than the top surface, similar to cultivated sunflower, while it was opposite in the annual species. Blanchet and Gelfi (1980) evaluated stomatal resistance, leaf-water potential, photosynthetic activity, leaf structure, and number of stomata. They concluded that H. argophyllus is the most likely source of drought tolerance because its pubescent leaves reflect sunlight, reduce water loss, and exhibit low transpiration rates. Serieys

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F. Vear

(1991) selected interspecific pools with H. argophyllus (Fig. 9.3) for increased and reduced transpiration.

9.6.6 Herbicide Tolerance A population of wild H. annuus from a soybean field in Kansas that had been repeatedly treated with imazethapyr developed resistance to the imidazolinone and sulfonylurea herbicides (Al-Khatib et al. 1998), which may also control broomrape in areas of the world where this parasitic weed attacks sunflower. This resistance has been introduced into cultivated sunflower (Al-Khatib and Miller 2000). Table 9.2 presents a summary by Christov (2008) of the species, which could be of use in breeding sunflowers for many characters.

9.7 Problems with Wild Helianthus Species (After Muller et al. 2008)

cultivated and weedy sunflower raises the question of the transfer of advantageous crop traits to the weeds (Mercer et al. 2007), which can contribute to the evolution of more aggressive weeds. Weedy forms morphologically close to American wild H. annuus have been observed in France and other European countries in recent years. Weedy sunflowers affected around 15% of sunflower fields in the area studied and caused yield losses that reached 50% in strongly infested patches. Until now, the only available method to control these weeds is mechanical weeding at the very beginning of the infestation of a field. These wild H. annuus weeds probably came from pollution of basic and hybrid seed production in North America, but it is very important that institutes maintaining wild Helianthus collections around the world take all the necessary precautions such that there are no escapes or pollution of cultivated sunflower by wild sunflowers, which is difficult to control in these crops.

9.8 Conclusions In North America, where weedy sunflowers occur quite widely, they can decrease substantially yields of corn and soybean (Kane and Rieseberg 2008). Moreover, the potential intercrossing between

Seiler and Gulya (2004) concluded that wild Helianthus species have been and continue to be an invaluable source of new genes for the improvement

Table 9.2 Sources of new characters transferred into cultivated sunflower (from Christov 2008) Character Species Resistance/tolerance to: Plasmopara helianthi

Phomopsis helianthi Erysiphe cichoracearum Orobanche cumana Phoma helianthi Sclerotinia sclerotiorum Earliness Seed size High oil content Genes controlling CMS Rf genes

H. annuus (w.f.), H. argophyllus, H. bolanderi, H. debilis, H. exilis, H. neglectus, H. paradoxus, H. petiolaris, H. praecox, H. divaricatus, H. doronicoides, H. giganteus, H. glaucophyllus, H. grosseserratus, H. mollis, H. maximiliani, H. microcephallus, H. multiflorus, H. nuttallii, H. occidentalis, H. orgialis, H. pumilus, H. salicifolius, H. smithii, H. decapetalus, H. hirsutus, H. laevigatus, H. scaberimus, H. tomentosus, H. eggertii, H. californicus, H. ciliaris, H. pauciflorus, H. resinosus, H. strumosus, H. tuberosus, H. laetiflorus H. annuus (w.f.), H. argophyllus, H. debilis, H. eggertii, H. pauciflorus, H. glaucophyllus, H. laevigatus H. decapetalus, H. laevigatus, H. glaucophyllus, H. ciliaris H. tuberosus, H. eggertii, H. smithii, H. argophyllus, H. pauciflorus, H. strumosus H. argophyllus, H. laevigatus, H. eggertii, H. debilis H. praecox, H. argophyllus, H. annuus (w.f.), H. petiolaris, H. eggertii, H. pauciflorus, H. smithii H. praecox, H. scaberimus, H. glaucophyllus, H. giganteus, H.rigidus, H. nuttallii, H. ciliaris, H. annuus (w.f.) H. annuus (w.f.), H. argophyllus, H. tuberosus, H. strumosus H. annuus (w.f.), H. debilis, H. petiolaris, H. praecox, H. pauciflorus, H. laetiflorus H. annuus (w.f.), H. argophyllus, H. debilis, H. petiolaris, H. praecox, H. pauciflorus, H. strumosus H. annuus (w.f.), H. argophyllus, H. bolanderi, H. debilis, H. exilis, H. neglectus, H. paradoxus, H. petiolaris, H. praecox, H. divaricatus, H. doronicoides, H. glaucophyllus, H. giganteus, H. grosseserratus, H. maximiliani, H. microcephallus, H. mollis, H. multiflorus, H. nuttallii, H. occidentalis, H. orgialis, H. pumilus, H. salicifolius, H. smithii, H. decapetalus, H. hirsutus, H. laevigatus, H. scaberimus, H. tomentosus, H. eggertii, H. ciliaris, H. resinosus, H. pauciflorus, H. strumosus, H. tuberosus, H. californicus and H. laetiflorus

9 Helianthus

of cultivated sunflower. The majority of gene transfers carried out so far have been from the annual Helianthus species, which comprise only a third of the species of the genus. Exploiting the genetic diversity of the wild perennial Helianthus species will present more of a challenge than the annual species for a number of reasons, the most important being the different polyploidy levels, which complicate the production of fertile seed in crosses with diploid cultivated sunflower. Compared with many cereal crops, breeding of sunflowers is quite a recent technology. There was a “bottle neck” due to the limited variability of the sunflowers which reached Russia and which were the basis of the present day oil producing crop. However, eastern Europe became a secondary area of diversification of cultivated sunflowers. As soon as there was a renewal of breeding with the development of hybrids, it was realized that the existence of a large number of species within the Helianthus genus, present in North America, close to and/or easily available to many breeders and research institutes was an extremely valuable resource. The research effort compared with that on maize, rice, or wheat is small, but the existence today of about 50 Helianthus species should facilitate improvement in the sunflower crop compared with these species where close relatives either no longer exist, are difficult to collect, or have already been largely exploited. Sunflower breeding is still relatively young, but the Helianthus genus should assure its success for a long period in the future.

References Al-Khatib K, Miller JF (2000) Registration of four genetic stocks of sunflower resistant to imidazolinone herbicides. Crop Sci 40:869–870 Al-Khatib K, Baumgartner JR, Peterson DE, Curie RS (1998) Imazethapyr resistance in common sunflower (Helianthus annuus). Weed Sci 46:403–407 Anashchenko AV (1974) On the taxonomy of the genus Helianthus L. Bot Z 59:1472–1481 Blanchet R, Gelfi N (1980) Physiologie ve´ge´tale caracteres xe´rophytiques de quelques especes d’He´lianthus susceptibles d’etre utilise´s pour ameliorer l’adaptation aux conditions seches du tournesol cultive´ (Helianthus annuus L.). CR Acad SC Paris Ser D 290:279–282 Brothers ME, Seiler GJ (2002) The National Plant Germplasm System’s sunflower collection: genetic diversity for developing countries. In: Proceedings of 2nd international

169 sunflower association international symposium on sunflower in developing countries, Benoni, South Africa, Feb 18–21, 9 p. http://www.ISA.Cetiom.fr/symposium/contents.htm Chandler JM, Beard BH (1983) Embryo culture of Helianthus hybrids. Crop Sci 23:1004–1007 Chandler JH, Jan CC (1985) Comparison of germination techniques for wild Helianthus seeds. Crop Sci 25:356–358 Christov M (2008) Helianthus species in breeding research on sunflower. In: Proceedings of 17th international sunflower conference, Co´rdoba, Spain, 8–12 June 2008, pp 709–714 Christov M, Shindrova P, Entcheva V (1996) Transfer of new gene material from wild Helianthus species to sunflower. In: Proceedings of 14th international sunflower conference, Beijing, China, 12–20 June 1996, pp 1039–1046 Christov M, Nikolova L, Djambasova T (2001) Evaluation and use of wild Helianthus species grown in the collection of Dobroudja Agricultural Institute, General Toshevo, Bulgaria for the period 1999–2000. In: Seiler G (ed) FAO sunflower subnetwork progress report 1999–2000. FAO, Rome, Italy, p 30 Cuk L, Seiler GJ (1985) Collection of wild sunflower species: a collection trip in the USA. Zbornik-Radova 15:283–289 Faure N, Serieys H, Kaan F, Berville´ A (2002) Partial hybridization in crosses between cultivated sunflower and the perennial Helianthus mollis: effect of in vitro culture compared to natural crosses. Plant Cell Rep 20:943–947 Fernandez-Martinez JM, Perez-Vich B, Akhtouch B, Velasco L, Munõz-Ruz J, Melero-Vara JM, Domıńguez J (2004) Registration of four sunflower germplasms resistant to race F of broomrape. Crop Sci 44:1033–1034 Gray A (1889) Synoptic flora of North America. Smithsonian Institution? Washington, DC, USA Heiser CB, Smith DM, Clevenger SB, Martin WC (1969) The North American sunflowers (Helianthus). Mem Torr Bot Club 22:1–218 Hoes JA, Putt ED, Enns H (1973) Resistance to Verticillium wilt in collections of wild Helianthus in North America. Phytopathology 63:1517–152 Jan CC, Chandler JH (1985) Transfer of powdery mildew resistance from Helianthus debilis Nutt. into cultivated sunflower. Crop Sci 25:664–666 Jan CC, Fernandez-Martıńez JM (2002) Interspecific hybridization, gene transfer, and the development of resistance to the broomrape race F in Spain. Helia 25(36):123–136 Jan CC, Seiler GJ, Gulya TJ, Feng J (2008) Sunflower germplasm development utilizing wild Helianthus species. In: Proceedings of 17th international sunflower conference, Co´rdoba, Spain, pp 29–43 Kane NC, Rieseberg LH (2008) Genetics and evolution of weedy Helianthus annuus populations: adaptation of an agricultural weed. Mol Ecol 17:384–394 Ko¨hler RH, Friedt W (1999) Genetic variability as identified by AP-PCR and reaction to mid-stem infection of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum among interspecific sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) hybrid progenies. Crop Sci 39:1456–1463 Leclercq P (1969) Cytoplasmic male sterility in sunflower. Ann Amelior Plant 19:99–106 Matthews JF, Allison JR, Ware RT, Nordman C (2002) Helianthus verticilliatus Small (Asteraeceae) rediscovered and redescribed. Castanea 67(1):13–24

170 Mercer KL, Andow DA, Wyse DL, Shaw RG (2007) Stress and domestication traits increase the relative fitness of crop-wild hybrids in sunflower. Ecol Lett 10:383–393 Mondolot-Cosson L, Andary C (1994) Resistance factors of wild species of sunflower, Helianthus resinosus to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Acta Hortic 381:642–645 Morris JB, Yang SM, Wilson L (1983) Reaction of Helianthus species to Alternaria helianthi. Plant Dis 67:539–540 Muller MH, Lecomte V, Garric B, Jouffret P, Leflon M, Pourageaux F, Se´gura R (2008) Weedy sunflowers in France: prevalence and first inferences on their origin. In: Proceedings of 17th international sunflower conference, Co´rdoba, Spain, 8–12 June 2008, pp 685–690 Oliveri AM, Jain SK (1977) Variation in the Helianthus exilisbolanderi complex. Madronõ 24:177–189 Philips OL, Meilleur BA (1998) Usefulness and economic potential of the rare plants of the United States: a statistical survey. Econ Bot 52(1):57–68 Prescott-Allen C, Prescott-Allen R (1986) The first resource: wild species in the North American economy. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 529 p Pruski JF (1998) Helianthus porteri (A. Gray) Pruski, a new combination validated for the “Confederate Daisy”. Castanea 63:74–75 Quillet MC, Madjidian N, Griveau Y, Serieys H, Tersac M, Lorieux M, Berville´ A (1995) Mapping genetic factors controlling pollen viability in an interspecific cross in Helianthus sect. Helianthus. Theor Appl Genet 91:1195–1202 Quresh Z, Jan CC, Gulya TJ (1993) Resistance to sunflower rust and its inheritance in wild sunflower species. Plant Breed 110:297–306 Rieseberg LH, Desrochers A, Youn SJ (1995) Interspecific pollen competition as a reproductive barrier between sympatric species of Helianthus (Asteraceae). Am J Bot 82:515–519 Robinson A (1979) Studies in the Heliantheae (Asteraceae). XVIII. A new genus Helianthopsis. Phytologia 44:257–259 Rogers CE, Seiler GJ (1985) Sunflower (Helianthus) resistance to stem weevil (Cylindrocopturus adspersus). Environ Entomol 14:624–628 Rogers CE, Thompon TE (1980) Helianthus resistance to the sunflower beetle. J Kansas Entomol Soc 53:727–730 Rogers CE, Thompson TE, Seiler GJ (1984) Registration of three Helianthus germplasms for resistance to the sunflower moth. Crop Sci 24:212–213 Ronicke S, Hahn V, Horn R, Grone I, Brahn L, Schnabl H, Freidt W (2004) Interspecific hybrids of sunflower as sources of Sclerotinia resistance. Plant Breed 123:152–157 Schilling EE (2000) Phylogeny of Helianthus and related genera. In: Proceedings of 15th international sunflower conference, Toulouse, France, 12–15 June 2000, pp D26–D31 Schilling EE, Heiser CB (1981) Infrageneric classification of Helianthus (Compositae). Taxon 30:393–403 Schilling EE, Jansen RK (1989) Restriction fragment analysis chloroplast DNA and the systematics of Viguiera and related genera (Asteraceae: Heliantheae). Am J Bot 76:1769–1778 Schilling EE, Panero JL (1996) Phylogenetic reticulation in Helianthinae. Am J Bot 83:939–948

F. Vear Schilling EE (1997) Phylogenetic analysis of Helianthus (Asteraceae) based on chloroplast DNA restriction site data. Theor Appl Genet 94:925–933 Schilling EE, Linder CR, Noyes RD, Rieseberg LH (1998) Phylogenetic relationships in Helianthus (Asteraceae) based on nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer regions sequence data. Syst Bot 23:177–187 Seiler GJ (1983) Evaluation of wild sunflower species for potential drought tolerance. In: Proceedings of sunflower research workshop, Minot, ND, USA, 26 Jan 1983, p 12. National Sunflower Association, Bismarck, ND, USA Seiler GJ (1998) The potential use of wild Helianthus species for selection of low saturated fatty acids in sunflower oil. In: de Ron AM (ed) International symposium on breeding of protein and oil crops. EUCARPIA, Pontevedra, Spain, pp 109–110 Seiler GJ (2002) Wild sunflower germplasm: a perspective on characteristics of use to sunflower breeders in developing countries. In: Proceedings of 2nd international symposium on sunflower in developing countries, 18–21 Feb 2002, Benoni, South Africa, 10 p. http://www.isa.cetiom.fr/ symposium/seiler.htm Seiler GJ, Brothers ME (1999) Oil concentration and fatty acid composition of achenes of Helianthus species (Asteraceae) from Canada. Econ Bot 53:273–280 Seiler GJ, Gulya TJ (2004) Exploration for wild Helianthus species in North America: challenges and opportunities in the search for global treasures. In: Proceedings of 16th international sunflower conference, 29 Aug–2 Sep 2004, Fargo, ND, USA, pp 43–68 Serieys H (1991) Agrophysiological consequences of a divergent selection based on foliar desiccation in sunflower. In: Proceedings of international symposium on physiology breeding of winter cereals, Montpellier, France, 3–6 July 1991. Colloques de l’INRA no 55:2111–224 Serieys H (1992) Sunflower: a catalogue of the wild species of the genus Helianthus. ENSAM and INRA, Montpellier, France, 412 p Serieys H (1999) Identification, study and utilization in breeding programs of new CMS sources. Helia 22:71–116 Skoric D (1985) Sunflower breeding for resistance to Diaporthe/ Phomopsis helianthi Munt.-Cvet. et al. Helia 8:21–23 Skoric D (1987) FAO Subnetwork report 1984-1986. In: Skoric D (ed) Genetic evaluation and use of Helianthus wild species and their use in breeding programs. FAO, Rome, Italy, pp 21–24 Skoric D (1992) Results obtained and future directions of wild species use in sunflower breeding. In: Proceedings of 13th international sunflower conference, Pisa, Italy, 7–11 Sept 1992, pp 1317–1348 Sossey-Alaoui K, Serieys H, Tersac M, Lambert P, Schilling E, Griveau Y, Kaan F, Berville A (1999) Evidence for several genomes in Helianthus. Theor Appl Genet 97:422–430 Tan AS, Jan CC, Gulya TJ (1992) Inheritance of resistance to Race 4 of sunflower downy mildew in wild sunflower accessions. Crop Sci 32:949–952 Watson EE (1929) Contribution to a monograph of the genus Helianthus Papers Mic. Acad Sc 9:305–475

Chapter 10

Hirschfeldia Johannes Siemens

10.1 Basic Botany of the Species Hirschfeldia Moench is a small genus taxonomically close to Erucastrum C. Presl and consists of Hirschfeldia incana (L.) Lagre´ze-Fossat and two very localized species in North Africa and Socotra (Go´mez Campo 1993; Go´mez-Campo and Martinez Laborde 1998). The genus is under constant discussion and some former species of the genus are already allocated to other genera and renamed. Snogerup and Snogerup (2002) recently proposed to dispose the name Hirschfeldia due to synonymy with Brassica geniculata as the correct name for H. incana. In an overview about the phylogeny of the Brassicaceae, Al-Shehbaz et al. (2006) also stated serious problems relating to generic boundaries in the tribe Brassiceae and recommended a change in nomenclature regarding several genera among Brassica, Sinapis, and Hirschfeldia. Until now, such a nomenclatural change has not generally been accepted and it will not be followed in this deliberation. Most specimens are collected and classified under the name H. incana (L.) Lagre´ze-Fossat, and in most of the recent literature, this name has been used. H. incana is a thermophilous and nitrophilous annual to biennial crucifer up to 1.5 m tall, usually divaricately branched with the potential to turn to a tumble-weed with high individual seed production. The plant shows certain variability in hairiness and size of siliqua and beak. H. incana is a widespread annual occupant of waste habitats in the Mediterranean region extending to Southwest Asia. Beyond these

regions, it has spread as an often casual adventive to warm–temperate regions, e.g., it grows as an introduced weed in southern Australia and New Zealand. H. incana belongs to the tribe Brassiceae and has a somatic chromosome number of 14 (n ¼ 7). Hoary mustard is self-incompatible due to protogyny (AlShehbaz 1977) and S-locus-related (SLR) genes control late pollen adhesion (Darmency and Fleury 2000; Luu et al. 2001), although some plants have some ability to self-fertilize (Lee et al. 2004). Furthermore, cytoplasmic male sterility occurs regularly in wild populations of this annual crucifer. In these plants, numbers of seed per fruit and total seed weights per plant are slightly higher than in the hermaphrodites (Horovitz and Beiles 1980). Now, H. incana is regarded mostly as a weed or as a plant with a potential use in phytoremediation. In ancient times, it had probably been used as a wild herb. Dioscorides mentions a wild pot herb called lapsane by the Greeks and napicium by the Romans and says both leaves and stalks were eaten. Pliny refers to lapsana as a sort of wild cabbage. It seems probable that the lapsana of the ancients is the hoary mustard, H. incana, a common wild plant found around the Mediterranean Sea, where, even today, the young sprouts are gathered in spring, boiled in water, and seasoned with olive oil and lemon juice to make a tasty dish (Andrews 1942). However, since the times of Dioscorides, H. incana certainly remained as a wild plant of no economic importance, belonging to the category of wild herbs used by country people as supplementary food.

10.2 Conservation Initiatives J. Siemens Institute of Applied Genetics, Free University of Berlin, Albrecht-Thaer Weg 6, 14195 Berlin, Germany e-mail: [email protected]

Regarded as a weed, there are no comprehensive attempts of in situ and ex situ conservation or large collections of genetic material of H. incana. All


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germplasm banks have some specimens, and several specimens are also stored in the botanic gardens, especially in the Mediterranean region.

10.3 Role in Elucidation of Origin and Evolution of Allied Crop Plants Sikka and Sharma (1979) performed chromosome studies on 28 species and varieties belonging to 18 genera including Brassica and Hirschfeldia of the tribe Brassiceae, which is characterized by a graded karyotype with medium to short chromosomes and constrictions mainly median to submedian in position. These studies were improved by analysis of meiotic chromosome pairing in interspecific hybrids of the genus Brassica with each of the following genera: Diplotaxis, Eruca, Erucastrum, Hirschfeldia, Hutera, Sinapis, and Sinapidendron (Harberd and McArthur 1980). Introgression studies over several generations with B. napus and five related species (B. oleracea, H. incana, Raphanus raphanistrum, B. nigra, and S. arvensis) obtained by embryo rescue provided further information about Hirschfeldia chromosomes (Chevre et al. 1991). Ali et al. (2005) has studied rRNA-gene localization on chromosomes as a structural marker on chromosomes of 45 species in the tribe Brassiceae including H. incana. The in situ hybridization studies and the introgression studies provided tools to analyze the karyotype of Hirschfeldia; the latter additionally proved the potential of H. incana as a gene donor for the crop plants in the genera Brassica, Raphanus, and Sinapis. However, the phylogenetic analysis was highly enhanced by the analysis of chloroplast genomes in the family Brassicaceae (Warwick and Black 1991, 1993; Warwick and Sauder 2005; Koch et al. 2007). The diversity in the chloroplast genomes analyzed by restriction fragments indicated a clear division of the subtribe into two ancient evolutionary lineages, namely the “Nigra” lineage including H. incana, and the “Rapa/Oleracea” lineage. The genera Coincya, Hirschfeldia, and Sinapidendron were monophyletic within the “Nigra” lineage. A high level of congruence was observed between recognized cytodems or crossing groups in the subtribe and the clusters defined by the cpDNA data. Levels of genetic divergence sug-

J. Siemens

gested by the cpDNA provided evidence for inconsistencies in the current generic delimitations based on morphology (Warwick and Black 1991, 1993). For example, the chloroplast DNA data also indicated the close genetic relationship of Sinapis pubescens to H. incana. On the basis of their data, morphological similarities, and prior taxonomic treatments, Warwick and Black (1993) proposed renaming H. incana as a subspecies in the genus Sinapis. In contrast, Koch et al. (2007) differentiated Hirschfeldia and Sinapis species by chloroplast genome analysis based on variation of trnF pseudogenes and of the trnL-F intergenic spacer regions. The phylogenetic distribution of microstructural changes for the trnL-F region supports ancient patterns of divergence in crucifer evolution for some but not all gene loci. Current phylogeny of tribe Brassiceae (Brassicaceae) based on sequences data is summarized by Warwick and Sauder (2005).

10.4 Role in Development of Cytogenetic Stocks and Their Utility As already mentioned, H. incana has been introduced in programs for interspecific crossing with the genus Brassica (Harberd and McArthur 1980; Chevre et al. 1991). But instead of focusing on introgression as a breeding tool, most of the subsequent studies of interspecific hybrids with H. incana attempted to quantify the agricultural and ecological risks of transgenic crops in European B. napus production areas, focusing on the possible spread of transgenic crops and the spread of the target transgene through hybridization (Lefol et al. 1996; Chevre et al. 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003; Chadoeuf et al. 1998; Wei and Darmency 2008). Concomitantly, these studies pinpoint the bottleneck in the hybridization approach for breeding. Genetic stability of the resistance traits in the genetic background of the crop plant and within the subsequent backcross generations is the crucial characteristic for an introgression of new genes in the genepool of crop plants. Furthermore, as a side effect of these studies, quite a large collection of hybrids and recurrent backcross generations with the potential of addition and substitution lines have been established and analyzed in the Institut Scientifique de Recherche

10 Hirschfeldia

Agronomique (INRA, Rennes, France). However, the potential of these lines for introgression of useful traits from H. incana into crop plants remains to be published in detail.

10.5 Role in Classical and Molecular Genetic Studies H. incana is used as parent in interspecific (Harberd and McArthur 1972) and intergeneric crosses (Chevre et al. 1991; Pl€umper 1995), but data regarding classical and molecular genetic linkage maps are not published in detail. Most studies characterized physiological traits like resistance to heavy metals (Poschenrieder et al. 2001; Gisbert et al. 2006, 2008) or host–parasite interactions (Roland 1952; Minz 1954; Salisbury 1987; Fernandez Garcia 1988; Pl€umper 1995; Paz et al. 1997; Scholze and Hammer 1998; Wheeler and Hoebeke 1999; Fletcher 2001; Shapiro 2006; Kavak et al. 2007) under natural ecological conditions collecting plants in areas with abiotic or biotic stress conditions. A classical genetic analysis or a molecular genetic linkage map correlated to these traits is not published. Physiological traits like sterol composition (Tzakou et al. 1993) or glycosinolates composition (Sang and Salisbury 1987; Belkhiri and Lockwood 1994) are characterized in a small number of plants and no variation within the species has been described. However, phytosociological studies indicate variation within the species (Chronopoulos et al. 2005).

10.6 Role in Crop Improvement Through Traditional and Advanced Tools Pl€umper (1995) has screened a large collection of wild relatives of B. napus for resistance to the important fungal pathogens Leptosphaeria maculans, Alternaria brassicicola, A. brassicae, and A. raphani. A similar screening of a large collection of wild relatives of B. napus has been extended to the protist Plasmodiophora brassicae (Scholze and Hammer 1998). In both studies, H. incana lines revealed to be resistant to L. maculans. Successful hybridizations with B. napus

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have been achieved using H. incana. The hybrids showed resistance to L. maculans in a cotyledon test and have been successfully backcrossed to B. napus (Pl€umper 1995). However, the resistance was not characterized genetically, and further studies were stopped due to the development of more promising resistance phenotypes against blackleg (L. maculans) and blackspot diseases (Alternaria brassicae and A. brassicicola) in hybrids of Brassica elongata, Sinapis alba, Diplotaxis tenuifolia, and Diplotaxis erucoides with B. napus (Klewer 2005). Resistance to A. brassicae and A. brassicicola of D. erucoides has been characterized by interspecies cross and is inherited as monogenic dominant trait (Klewer 2005). However, these intergeneric hybrids point to the possibility of introgression from H. incana into crop plants. They clearly stress the value of introgression from wild relatives (Siemens 2002). Other studies regarding resistance to abiotic or biotic stress might be reflected under this aspect. H. incana is described as a host for the cucumber mosaic virus (Fletcher 2001), potato Y potyvirus (PVY) (Paz et al. 1997), and cabbage black ring spot virus (Roland 1952). The latter virus infection causes only very weak symptoms in H. incana (Roland 1952). Hoary mustard has been described as spring host of Pieris rapae (Fernandez Garcia 1988) and as an oviposition substrate for Phulia nymphula (Shapiro 2006). The scentless plant bug Rhopalus tigrinus (Wheeler and Hoebeke 1999) and the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne sp. (Minz 1954) have been found on H. incana. Kavak et al. (2007) described a heavy infection with Albugo candida on hoary mustard. In all mentioned studies, no variation of H. incana has been described. In contrast, resistance to blackleg disease caused by Leptosphaeria maculans has been described by several authors in different material (Salisbury 1987; Pl€umper 1995; Scholze and Hammer 1998), indicating that a screen for variation in this species can be precious. In regard to abiotic stress, H. incana is described as pseudometallophytes due to the ability of the species to grow under extreme Cu-toxicity conditions and on highly contaminated soils (Poschenrieder et al. 2001; Gisbert et al. 2006, 2008). The potential usefulness of this trait for phytoremediation but not for introgression into crop plants has been discussed. There is great interest in the identification of autochthonous plant species capable of accumulating

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elevated amounts of heavy metals in their tissues, with the aim of employing them for phytoremediation of contaminated soils. H. incana is the dominant species in many metal-contaminated sites in Spain and is one possible candidate. The species is able to support the extreme Cu-toxicity conditions on soils with 5–16.8 mg g1 extractable Cu and shows high shoot/root Cu ratio. Furthermore, H. incana can grow in soils with concentrations of heavy metals such as Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd, and arsenic (As). Rio-Celestino et al. (2006) analyzed the phytoextraction efficiency of plant species to estimate their suitability for remediation of Pb and Zn polluted soils. H. incana was highly effective in removing Pb and Zn from the contaminated soil, when the biomass values were taken into account. Together with Bassia scoparia (Chenopodiaceae), Inula viscosa (Asteraceae), and Solanum nigrum (Solanaceae), H. incana (Brassicaceae) also had the highest values for arsenic accumulation (Gisbert et al. 2008). Furthermore, H. incana showed thallium accumulation in the shoots and especially in the flowers, which might be due to high concentrations of nitrogen and also high values of P, S, and K in the flowers (Madejon et al. 2005, 2007). None of these physiological traits of H. incana have been genetically analyzed; none have been used for introgression either. In fact, these traits are discussed as phytoaccumulation risks for crop species in those soils. Thus, a risk would arise if these soils, or those nearby with similar plant-available heavy metal levels, were cultivated or used for livestock grazing. H. incana showed a high accumulation of metals in shoots, which could make it interesting for phytoremediation of contaminated soils. The results also suggest that H. incana may be useful as an indicator of soil heavy metal contamination, as the metal concentrations in the aerial part reflect the soil concentrations (Gisbert et al. 2008).

10.7 Genomics Resources Developed The genus Hirschfeldia is clearly underrepresented in databases. Molecular studies are rare, and consequently, sequence data are also limited. Genetic variation is described (Lee et al. 2004) but not collected intentionally. Therefore, the specimens in the germ-

J. Siemens

plasm banks will probably not show very high genetic diversity.

10.8 Scope for Domestication and Commercialization Since the times of Dioscorides, hoary mustard was a side dish in traditional food gathering. However, H. incana was included in a study to estimate alternative crops (Branca 1995). Yields were high and quality of the edible parts was satisfactory, particularly with regard to mineral and ascorbic acid contents. Wild Brassicaceae species could offer a significant contribution to vegetable diversification.

10.9 Some Dark Sides and Their Addressing H. incana is integrated into many studies regarding outcrossing of transgenes as consequences of commercial release of transgenic crops, especially oilseed rape (B. napus). B. napus is partially allogamous and presents numerous wild relatives growing nearby in cultivated areas and having an overlapping of the flowering period. In principle, transgenes can escape via seeds and volunteer rape, and seeds of interspecific hybrids between rape and wild relatives can survive and germinate after several years, ensuring genetic and spatial spread of transgenes (Chadoeuf et al. 1998; Devos et al. 2009). Spontaneous backcrossing with hoary mustard has been found. The performance of the hybrids indicated that hybrids and hoary mustard would not be better competitors against oilseed rape, but hybrids might be more competitive in a hoary mustard population (Lefol et al. 1995). Field experiments have been carried out under natural conditions to develop and validate gene flow models. Experiments under normal agronomic conditions have revealed a very low frequency of hybrids (Chevre et al. 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003). In summary, under European agricultural conditions, H. incana do not exhibit a supposable potential for superweed due to gene flow from transgenic crops.

10 Hirschfeldia

10.10 Recommendations for Future Actions As a non-crop plant, the genus Hirschfeldia is not associated with farmers’ rights and IPR-related issues. Like many other plants, hoary mustard is a neglected plant and has been displaced by more highyielding crop plants. Besides all other suggestions for neglected plants, it might be a good attempt to encourage people to collect wild species as side dishes like it is a fashion in autumn seasons with fungi. Introducing an attitude as a pleasant and tasteful fashion for several thousand people might be more effective to stress the importance of natural diversity and creating awareness than negotiations about in situ conservation and collection of germplasm. However, in populated areas, H. incana might be found in rural spots, presumably with heavily contaminated soils and, therefore, it cannot be regarded as healthy natural food. Therefore, hoary mustard can only be a minor exponent for this movement of care and preservation of ancient food.

References Ali HBM, Lysak MA, Schubert I (2005) Chromosomal localization of rDNA in the Brassicaceae. Genome 48:341–346 Al-Shehbaz IA (1977) Protogyny in the Cruciferae. Syst Bot 2:327–333 Al-Shehbaz IA, Beilstein MA, Kellogg EA (2006) Systematics and phylogeny of the Brassicaceae (Cruciferae): an overview. Plant Syst Evol 259:89–120 Andrews AC (1942) Alimentary use of hoary mustard in the classical period. Isis 34:161–162 Belkhiri A, Lockwood GB (1994) Investigation of ‘mustard oil’ glucosinolates in cell cultures of three species of Cruciferae. Flav Fragr J 9:1–6 Branca F (1995) Studies on some wild Brassicaceae species utilizable as vegetables in the Mediterranean areas. Plant Genet Resour Newsl 104:6–9 Chadoeuf R, Darmency H, Maillet J, Renard M (1998) Survival of buried seeds of interspecific hybrids between oilseed rape, hoary mustard and wild radish. Field Crops Res 58:197–204 Chevre AM, Eber F, Kerlan MC, This P (1991) Cytogenetic and molecular markers for genome analysis of crucifers. CR Acad Agric Fran 77:59–67 Chevre AM, Eber F, Renard M (1997) Transgenic rape and environmental hazards. Biofutur 172:44–48 Chevre A-M, Eber F, Baranger A, Vallee P, Pierre J, Renard M (1998) Impact of oilseed rape genetic transformation. Cahiers Agric 7:525–530

175 Chevre AM, Eber F, Renard M, Darmency H (1999) Gene flow from oilseed rape to weeds. In: Gene flow and agriculture, Proceeding symposium, Keele, UK, 12–14 Apr 1999, pp 1125–1130 Chevre AM, Eber F, Jenczewski E, Renard M, Pierre J, Darmency H, Reboud X (2001) Agro-environmental impact of the cultivation of herbicide tolerant genetically modified rapeseed varieties. CR Acad Agric Fran 87:11–20 Chevre AM, Eber F, Jenczewski E, Darmency H, Renard M (2003) Gene flow from oilseed rape to weedy species. Acta Agric Scand B Soil Plant Sci 53:22–25 Chronopoulos G, Theocharopoulos M, Christodoulakis D (2005) Phytosociological study of Hirschfeldia incana (L.) Lagraze-Fossat (Cruciferae) communities in mainland Greece. Acta Bot Croat 64:75–114 Darmency H, Fleury A (2000) Mating system in Hirschfeldia incana and hybridization to oilseed rape. Weed Res 40: 231–238 Devos Y, De Schrijver A, Reheul D (2009) Quantifying the introgressive hybridisation propensity between transgenic oilseed rape and its wild/weedy relatives. Environ Monit Assess 149:303–322 Fernandez Garcia E (1988) Spring and summer hosts for Pieris rapae in Southern Spain with special attention to Capparis spinosa. Entomol Exp Appl 48:173–178 Fletcher JD (2001) New hosts of Alfalfa mosaic virus, Cucumber mosaic virus, Potato virus Y, Soybean dwarf virus, and, Tomato spotted wilt virus in New Zealand. NZ J Crop Hortic Sci 29:213–217 Gisbert C, Clemente R, Navarro-Avino J, Baixauli C, Giner A, Serrano R, Walker DJ, Bernal MP (2006) Tolerance and accumulation of heavy metals by Brassicaceae species grown in contaminated soils from Mediterranean regions of Spain. Environ Exp Bot 56:19–27 Gisbert C, Almela C, Velez D, Lopez-Moya JR, de Haro A, Serrano R, Montoro R, Navarro-Avino J (2008) Identification of an accumulation plant species growing on highly contaminated soils. Int J Phytoremed 10:185–196 Go´mez Campo C (1993) Hirschfeldia Moench. In: Castroviejo S, Aedo C, Go´mez Campo C, Laıńz M, Montserrat P, Morales R, Munoz Garmendia F, Nieto Feliner G, Rico E, Talavera S, Villar L (eds) Flora Iberica. 4: Cruciferae – Monotropaceae. Real Jardin Botańico, Madrid, Spain, pp 398–400 Go´mez-Campo C, Martinez Laborde J (1998) Taxonomic and nomenclatural adjustments in the tribe Brassiceae (Cruciferae). Anal Jard Bot Madrid 56:379–381 Harberd DJ, McArthur ED (1972) Two partially fertile species hybrids in the Brassiceae. Heredity 28:253 Harberd DJ, McArthur ED (1980) Meiotic analysis of some species and genus hybrids in the Brassiceae. In: Tsunoda S, Hinata K, Gomez-Campo C (eds) Brassica crops and wild allies. Japan Science Society Press, Tokyo, Japan, pp 1965–1987 Horovitz A, Beiles A (1980) Gynodioecy as a possible populational strategy for increasing reproductive output. Theor Appl Genet 57:11–15 Kavak H, Katircioglu Z, Bukun B (2007) Hirschfeldia incana, a new host report for white blister caused by Albugo candida in Turkey. Aust Plant Dis Notes 2:149

176 € Klewer A (2005) Ubertragung von Resistenzen gegen die Alternaria-Rapsschw€arze aus verwandten Arten in Brassica napus L. PhD Thesis, Free University, Berlin, Germany Koch MA, Dobes C, Kiefer C, Schmickl R, Klimes L, Lysak MA (2007) Supernetwork identifies multiple events of plastid trnF (GAA) pseudogene evolution in the Brassicaceae. Mol Biol Evol 24:63–73 Lee PLM, Patel RM, Conlan RS, Wainwright SJ, Hipkin CR (2004) Comparison of genetic diversities in native and alien populations of hoary mustard (Hirschfeldia incana). Int J Plant Sci 165:833–843 Lefol E, Danielou V, Darmency H, Boucher F, Maillet J, Renard M (1995) Gene dispersal from transgenic crops. I. Growth of interspecific hybrids between oilseed rape and the wild hoary mustard. J Appl Ecol 32:803–808 Lefol E, Fleury A, Darmency H (1996) Gene dispersal from transgenic crops. II. Hybridization between oilseed rape and the wild heavy mustard. Sex Plant Reprod 9: 189–196 Luu DT, Hugues S, Passelegue E, Heizmann P (2001) Evidence for orthologous S-locus-related I genes in several genera of Brassicaceae. Mol Gen Genet 264:735–745 Madejon P, Murillo JM, Maranon T, Valdes B, Oliva SR (2005) Thallium accumulation in floral structures of Hirschfeldia incana (L.) Lagreze-Fossat (Brassicaceae). Bull Environ Contamin Toxicol 74:1058–1064 Madejon P, Murillo JM, Maranon T, Lepp NW (2007) Factors affecting accumulation of thallium and other trace elements in two wild Brassicaceae spontaneously growing on soils contaminated by tailings dam waste. Chemosphere 67:20–28 Minz G (1954) List of additional hosts of the root knot nematode Meloidygyne sp. Hassadeh 34:511 Paz Al ED, Mendez Perez P, Jorda-Gutierrez C (1997) New hosts of potato Y potyvirus (PVY) identified in the Canary Islands. Plant Dis 81:1096 Pl€ umper B (1995) Somatische und sexuelle Hybridisierung f€ur den Transfer von Krankheitsresistenzen auf Brassica napus L. PhD Thesis, Free University, Berlin, Germany Poschenrieder C, Bech J, Llugany M, Pace A, Fenes E, Barcelo J (2001) Copper in plant species in a copper gradient in Catalonia (North East Spain) and their potential for phytoremediation. Plant Soil 230:247–256

J. Siemens Rio-Celestino Md, Font R, Moreno-Rojas R, Haro-Bailon A (2006) Uptake of lead and zinc by wild plants growing on contaminated soils. Ind Crops Prod 24:230–237 Roland G (1952) A study of two viruses of turnip: mosaic and yellows. Parasitica 8:97–111 Salisbury PA (1987) Blackleg resistance in weedy crucifers. Cruciferae Newsl 12:90–91 Sang JP, Salisbury PA (1987) Wild crucifer species and 4-hydroxyglucobrassicin. Cruciferae Newsl 12:113–114 Scholze P, Hammer K (1998) Evaluation of resistance to Plasmodiophora brassicae, Alternaria and Phoma in Brassicaceae. Acta Hortic 459:363–369 Shapiro AM (2006) Use of an exotic weed (Hirschfeldia incana) as an oviposition substrate of the high-Andean pierid Phulia nymphula. J Lepidopt Soc 60:100–101 Siemens J (2002) Interspecific hybridisation between wild relatives and Brassica napus to introduce new resistance traits into the oilseed rape gene pool. Czech J Genet Plant Breed 38:155–157 Sikka K, Sharma AK (1979) Chromosome evolution in certain genera of Brassiceae. Cytologia 44:467–478 Snogerup S, Snogerup B (2002) Brassica L. In: Strid A, Tan K (eds) Flora Hellenica. Gantner, Ruggell, Germany, pp 280–286 Tzakou O, Shammas G, Couladis M (1993) Sterol composition of Hirschfeldia incana. Fitoterapia 64:89 Warwick SI, Black LD (1991) Molecular systematics of Brassica and allied genera subtribe Brassicinae Brassiceae chloroplast genome and cytodeme Congruence. Theor Appl Genet 82:81–92 Warwick SI, Black LD (1993) Molecular relationships in subtribe Brassicinae (Cruciferae, tribe Brassiceae). Can J Bot 71:906–918 Warwick SI, Sauder CA (2005) Phylogeny of tribe Brassiceae (Brassicaceae) based on chloroplast restriction site polymorphisms and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer and chloroplast trnL intron sequences. Can J Bot 83:467–483 Wei W, Darmency H (2008) Gene flow hampered by low seed size of hybrids between oilseed rape and five wild relatives. Seed Sci Res 18:115–123 Wheeler AG, Hoebeke ER (1999) Rhopalus (Brachycarenus) tigrinus (Hemiptera: Rhopalidae): First western U.S. records of a Eurasian scentless plant bug. Entomol Newsl 110:92–96

Chapter 11

Linum Christopher Cullis

11.1 The Basic Botany of the Genus The family Linaceae is comprised of 22 genera of which genus Linum is the most well known. The genus Linum is widely distributed mostly throughout the temperate regions of the world and a few species extend into subtropical areas. Most species are found in the Northern Hemisphere, although there are 14 mainly shrubby species with small flowers that are found in the Cape region of South Africa and one similar species in New Zealand (Strange and Rix 2007). Their habitat is rather open on rocks or well-drained calcareous or sandy soils. Flax is fastidious about the nutrients in the soil and is sensitive to the lack of boron. Flax thrives on medium and light weakly podzolized loamy soils with рH of 5–6. Linum probably originated in an area in Northwest India, from where it spread northward, westwards and southwards to Europe and Russia and Ethiopia. Currently, the main centers of diversity of the genus are the Mediterranean area, the Fertile Crescent, Ethiopia, and India. Various estimates of the number of species in this genus vary from 150 to more than 200 (Flora Europaea 1968; Strange and Rix 2007). The species present in the genus Linum are divided in five subsections (McDill 2009); Linum, Dasylinum, Syllinum, Cathartolinum, and Linastrum. The taxonomic characters used to define these sections include morphological characters such as flower color, the presence/absence of stipular glands, trichome distribution, presence/absence of staminodia, and leaf arrangement. Some of the relationships can be reexamined using new molecular data.

C. Cullis Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106-7080, USA e-mail: [email protected]

Preliminary data indicate the separation between the blue-flowered species and the yellow-flowered species (McDill 2009). In Europe, Linum contains 36 species, covering the five sections. The commonest is the small annual, Linum catharticum L. which has white flowers and opposite leaves. It is the only species in section Cathartolinum in Europe, but most of the eight species from eastern North America belong to this section. The species from western North America are in the section Hesperolinon. The section Linum includes the blue-flowered species L. usitatissimum L. (the cultivated common flax) and the cultivated ornamental perennials L. narbonense L. and L. perenne L. This section also includes about 12 species in Europe. The section Dasylinum (Planchon) Juz. contains four European species, including the pink-flowered L. viscosum L. and L. pubescens Banks & Solander; this section is characterized by its pubescent leaves. The section Linastrum (Planchon) Bentham, which contains yellow-, pink- and white-flowered species, mostly annuals like the yellow-flowered L. maritimum L is less significant as far as horticulture is concerned.

11.1.1 Morphology The general characteristics of the Linaceae are: • • • •

Leaves are alternate (rarely opposite) and simple Stipules are small or absent Flowers are bisexual and regular Sepals are either free or united at the base, imbricated, persistent, and usually number 5 (but on rare occasions 4) • Petals are of the same number as sepals with which they alternate, imbricated, and convoluted


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• Stamens are of the same number and alternate with petals. The filaments are monadelphous and often have a glandular base • Ovary has 2–5 carpels but appear to be 4–10-celled because of the intrusion of false septa, with 1–2 ovules • Style number the same as ovule number The Linum species are annual or perennial herbs. They are usually erect growing with tough cortex. The leaves are alternate, sessile, narrow, and usually entire with or without stipular glands. The flowers that can be blue, red, yellow or white are borne on terminal or axillary racemes. They first open soon after dawn in the sunshine. The flowers have five petals with five- or ten-celled ovaries (depending on the absence or presence of false septa), with two ovules per cell. The five styles can be free or united to the center and the capsules can be either dehiscent or indehiscent (Flora Europaea 1968).

11.1.2 Karyotype Karyotypic analysis of Linum L. species started more than half century ago and allowed several flax species to be recognized (Muravenko et al. 2003). It has been observed that chromosome number ranges from 12 to 72 in the genus, and that chromosomes are small (1–4 mm) and morphologically similar. Although monochrome staining reveals only general karyotypic differences, the results obtained with this method have made it possible to construct a putative phylogenetic tree both for the Old World and for New World species of the genus Linum (Muravenko et al. 2003). Table 11.1 contains a listing of some of the Linum species chromosome numbers.

11.1.3 Taxonomy Flax is an annual of the family Linaceae. The overall place of flax in the plant classification is: Division: Magnoliophyta Order: Malpighiales Family: Linaceae Genus: Linum Species: Linum usitatissimum

C. Cullis Table 11.1 Chromosome numbers of Linum species. Chromosome numbers taken from Harris (1968) and Ray (1944) Species Chromosome Reference number (n) L. africanum 16 Ray (1944) L. alatum 15 Harris (1968) L. alpinum Jacq 18 Ray (1944) L. alpinum 9 Ray (1944) L. altaicum 9 Ray (1944) L. angustifolium 15 Ray (1944) L. arboretum 14 Ray (1944) L. arenicola 18 Harris (1968) L. aristatum 15 Harris (1968) L. aristale 15 Harris (1968) L. austriacum 9 Ray (1944) L. bahamense 18 Harris (1968) L. campanulatum 14 Ray (1944) L. capitatum 14 Ray (1944) L. carteri small 30 Harris (1968) L. catharticum 8 Ray (1944) L. collinum 9 Ray (1944) L. compactum 15 Ray (1944) L. corymbytherium 15 Ray (1944) L. extra-axillare 9 Ray (1944) L. flavum 15 Ray (1944) L. floridanum 18 Harris (1968) L. gallicum 10 Ray (1944) L. grandiforum Desf. 8 Ray (1944) L. hirsutum 8 Ray (1944) L. hologynum 9 Ray (1944) L. hudsonioides 15 Harris (1968) Li. Imbticatum 15 Harris (1968) L. intereusum 18 Harris (1968) L. julicum 9 Ray (1944) L. lewisii 9 Ray (1944) L. loreyi Jord 9 Ray (1944) L. maritinum 10 Ray (1944) L. medium 15 Ray (1944) L. mexicanum 18 Harris (1968) L. monogynum Forst 43 Ray (1944) L. mulleri 9 Ray (1944) L. narbonense 9 Ray (1944) L. nelsonii 31 Harris (1968) L. neo-mexicanum Greene 13 Harris (1968) L. nervosum 15 Ray (1944) L. perenne 9 Ray (1944) L. pratense 9 Harris (1968) L. pronglri 26 Harris (1968) L. puburelum 15 Harris (1968) L. punctatum 9 Ray (1944) L. rigidum 15 Ray (1944) L. rupestre 18 Harris (1968) L. salsoides 9 Ray (1944) L. scabrellum 36 Harris (1968) L. schiedeanum 18 Harris (1968) (continued)

11 Linum Table 11.1 (continued) Species L. striatum L. strictum L. sunteres L. sulcatum L. tenuifolium L. tommasinii L. usitatissimum L. vernale L. virginianum L. viscosum L. westii

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Chromosome number (n) 18 9 15 15 9 9 15 15 18 8 18

Reference Harris (1968) Ray (1944) Harris (1968) Ray (1944) Ray (1944) Ray (1944) Ray (1944) Harris (1968) Harris (1968) Ray (1944) Harris (1968)

The Malpighiales are a large order of flowering plants, included in the group named eurosids I in the recent Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification. Its internal systematics are still uncertain. This diverse order includes violets and willows, passion-fruit and mangrove, poinsettia, and flax.

11.1.4 Genome Size This family only has a single member for which the genome size has been determined that is flax (L. usitatissimum). The value from the RBG Kew DNA C-values database is 1C ¼ 0.70 pg (1C ¼ 686 Mbp). However, there appears to be significant variation in the genome sizes even within flax varieties. Thus, genome size determinations on nine different flax varieties gave sizes ranging from 381 to 575 Mbp (Michael personal communication), a variation of 194 Mbp, which is greater than the complete Arabidopsis genome size. It will be important to determine the genome sizes across the Linum germplasm and determine the function, if any that this range of genome sizes has on phenotypic characteristics. One of the interesting characteristics of the flax genome is that it appears to contain few retrotransposable elements but does have a large portion of the genome in repetitive sequences arrayed in tandem (Cullis 1981). However, the kinetic complexity of the single copy sequences (which make up 44% of the total genome) is only 3.25 108 nucleotide pairs. This kinetic complexity corresponds to a weight of DNA of 0.38 pg/1C nucleus, which is very closer to half the

estimate from Feulgen staining (0.31 pg/1C nucleus). Therefore, flax has one of the smaller genomes in plants as far as the complexity is concerned. This is true because of the fact that much of the genome (35%) comprises highly repetitive tandemly arrayed sequences. These are likely to be the sites of the heterochromatic regions of the genome. A light satellite region making up about 15% of the total genome is also present. It will be instructive to determine the distribution of the genome organization in the genus as a whole and determine if flax is typical or atypical.

11.1.5 Status as an Agricultural and Model System Within the genus, only flax (L. usitatissimum) is used as an agricultural crop. Other species such as L. flavum, L. grandiflorum and L. komarovii are used as ornamental plants. Flax is valued as a crop for its stem fiber and seed oil (as well as medicinal secondary metabolites), and there are both shared and unique aspects of each of these processes that are scientifically and economically interesting (Fig. 11.1). For example, although the composition of flax xylem is similar to the stems of poplar, flax phloem fibers (i.e., linen) have a composition that is much more similar to tension wood. Similarly, flax makes many of the same fatty acids as soybean, and additionally makes a higher proportion of unsaturated and longer-chain fatty acids valued for industrial and nutritional applications. Thus, studies of processes such as the development of plant architecture, stems, cell walls, and lipids may be conducted more efficiently in flax than in other systems, and the results have the potential to be informative in other species already sequenced, as well as contributing to more general questions of gene and genome evolution, including further clarifying phylogenetic relationships within the Malpighiales and higher clades. For example, as a member of the Malpighiales, flax is closely related to other potential biofuel species, such as poplar and willow. However, flax is more suitable to forward genetics and other types of techniques, as it has all of the practical advantages of Arabidopsis as an experimental organism, including a short generation time, self-pollination, efficient transformation systems,

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Fig. 11.1 Flax plant

1303

F1

PI

Fig. 11.2 Inheritance of height and branching. The cross between the lines CI1303 and Stormont cirrus (Pl) with an F1 plant

and can be grown in laboratory or field settings at high density. One of the interesting questions that could be addressed within the cultivated flax with genomic sequences from both a fiber and an oil variety is how the genome organization and control has allowed the development of a bifunctional crop – namely, one that can produce both high-quality fiber as well as high oilseed yield. The importance of identifying the control of the two phenotypes and the system integration of the development will be greatly facilitated by complete genome sequences of both types. In crosses between tall and short varieties, height is dominant but the branching patterns are synergistic so that the F1 is much more extensively branched than either of the parents. These phenotypes then segregate into various classes in the next generation. The description of the phenotypes in the segregating families along with the ability to identify the segments of the genome arising from each of the parents will allow the combinations of chromosomal regions responsible for each of the quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling these characters (Fig. 11.2). Flax is an excellent subject for studying both the development of fiber-rich stems, and the biosynthesis of a range of lipids. Therefore, flax is informative

with regard to two potential sources of bioenergy: cellulose and biodiesel. Moreover, flax is already an established crop grown on over 3.5 million ha. worldwide, and significant potential exists for developing this into a multi-use crop including the production of environmentally friendly sources of high-quality fiber for textiles and composites. Currently, more than one million tons annually of flaxseed straw, as a byproduct of the linseed industry, constitutes a major environmental disposal problem. Understanding and manipulating this waste product to either make it useful as a fiber source or fermentable as a biofuel source will reduce the problem and possibly increase the production of flax as a crop within the northern USA. Apart from the traditional uses of flax as a fiber and oil crop, there has been an increasing interest in the medicinal and nutraceutical value of flax. The initial interest was in the omega-3 fatty acid, a-linolenic acid, but the use has widened to other biologically active molecules such as the flax lignans, which are being considered because of their effect on several medical conditions. These medicinal uses are of ancient origin such as when Charlemagne prescribed flaxseed production for all the subjects in the Roman Empire for its health properties (Muir and Westcott 2003).

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11.2 Conservation Initiatives Flax is one of the founding crops of the Near East. It has been subjected to disruptive selection resulting in a dual use crop – the seed flax (linseed) for oil and the fiber flax for fiber. This is one of the few domesticated plants that have been selected for two totally different crop uses. Therefore, the diversity of collections is an important underpinning for the continued improvement of these crops as well as for the development of a truly bifunctional crop where the same planting can be used for both oil and fiber harvest. An international flax database has been managed by the AGRITEC Company Ltd., Sumperk in the Czech Republic since 1994. Accessions in this database are described using 22 passport descriptors as well as 24 special descriptors. Included in the latter group are 14 morphological traits, four biological, and six yield characters. As noted by the name, this database is mostly populated by cultivars. These data are mainly from the Czech, Russian, Romanian, and Dutch seed collections (Pavalek 1998). Currently, the FDB includes data from 8,387 accessions of flax and linseed, stored in 13 contributing genebanks from 11 countries. This is estimated at 33% of the total number of flax accessions (possibly around 25,000) conserved in Europe. The types of accessions are 38% advanced cultivars, 27% genetic resources, 20% breeding material, and 14% landraces, primitive cultivars, and wild forms. Passport data are included in the database for 82% of the accessions, while 16% are described by specific characterization descriptors (http://www. ecpgr.cgiar.org/databases/Crops/flax.htm). One of the current objectives is to develop and use molecular markers to identify duplicate accessions to reduce the seed storage needs while still maintaining the diversity available for this crop. An extensive overview of ex situ collections of cultivated flax (L. usitatissimum L.) and 53 other species of the genus Linum L. is available (Diederichsen 2007) (Table 11.2). Included in the data are 33 genebanks in 23 countries that are preserving Linum germplasm. These world genebanks are engaged in the ex situ preservation of about 48,000 accessions of cultivated flax (L. usitatissimum). However, it is possible that only 10,000 accessions of these are unique. The number of species of the genus Linum is not generally agreed upon but there are about 200 identified. Fifty-three species (excluding

181 Table 11.2 Flax ex situ collections 2008) Site VNIL Torzhok, Russia VIR St. Petersburg, Russia RITC China PGRC Canada DSV Lippstadt, Germany Adis-Abeba, Genbank Ethiopia GRIN, USA RICIC Romania Other collections (81)

(Diederichsen and Fu Number of accessions 6,100 5,700 4,000 3,500 3,500 3,100 2,800 2,700 22,300

L. usitatissimum) covering about 900 accessions are reported to be represented in these ex situ collections. A large number of these accessions are of the wild progenitor of cultivated flax, Linum bienne Mill (279 accessions). However, L. bienne from the region of origin of cultivated flax is rarely represented in genebank collections, possibly as the differentiation between the progenitor of the cultivated species and escapes from earlier episodes of domestication are difficult to discern. There is still need for the clarification of taxonomic species delimitation within the genus Linum and the continued development of molecular markers, in particular DNA markers, will greatly aid these efforts. Outside of the need for collections and descriptions of the agronomically useful germplasm, more detailed studies of the variation available in Linum species for ornamental use or use in breeding is needed. An example of these efforts is the National Russian Flax Collections of the All Russia Flax Research Institute (VNIIL). During the period 1991–1997, 2,219 samples of the genus Linum were collected and these included 2,077 samples of the species L. usitatissimum and 142 samples of 28 wild species of the genus Linum. As of 1998, the Institutes collection totaled more than 6,130 samples, which included 142 wild species in addition to the nearly 6,000 flax and linseed samples (Rozhmina and Zhuchenko 1998). The diverse germplasm stored in genebanks will be essential for the long-term sustainability of flax production since the diversity maintained through agriculture has mostly disappeared. This variation is a critical need in order to increase the potential of the crop in its many modern uses. An extended evaluation of genebank germplasm is necessary to identify

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those accessions, which have genetic variation for useful traits that are not found in current cultivars. This characterization is important to occur for both the molecular and phenotypic characteristics, since the phenotypic expression of characters can be affected both by the original seed production environment and the evaluation environment. As mentioned earlier, the possible duplication within and among genebank collections needs to be determined and cooperation among the major flax genebanks in this endeavor will ensure the maximum genetic diversity preservation with the minimum of effort. The aim would be to preserve diversity without loosing unique material. Associated with these efforts should be a closer focus on the wild progenitor of flax (L. bienne) and other wild interfertile species as sources of useful characteristics in flax breeding. L. bienne from the region of origin of cultivated flax, the Fertile Crescent, is presently very rare in genebanks and these collections should be extended (Diederichsen 2007). The survey and management of the Linum ex situ collections will be greatly enhanced for both accuracy and ease with the deployment of molecular markers. These are being developed for flax and the first large set of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) have been isolated and characterized (Cloutier et al. 2009). Full genome shotgun sequencing of flax is also underway and these molecular resources will greatly enhance diversity analysis and identification. However, the screening of the world collection of Linum is a major undertaking that will need considerable funding to achieve.

11.3 The Origin and Evolution of Allied Crop Plants The Linaceae is an outlier in the phylogenetic tree. The group is not closely related to other crop plants, the closest being poplar for which there are extensive molecular data. Clearly, the development of molecular data for flax will enable the taxonomic relationships to be more clearly defined. Most of the molecular taxonomic data have used the ITS regions of the ribosomal RNA genes. The most used molecular markers in Linum are random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR). These markers show considerable variation. In addition,

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the chloroplast rDNA region has been used for interspecific comparisons. The basic morphological markers that were initially employed in the taxonomic evaluation of each of the sections (Flora Europaea 1968) and the characteristics of the different sections are described as below. Section Syllinum has stems with narrow wings decurrent from leaf bases. The leaves are alternate with a pair of glands at the base. The sepals are sometimes glandular-ciliate. The petals are slightly joined at the base of the claw and are usually yellow. The stigmas are usually linear or oblong-linear. They can be homostylous or heterostylus. Section Linum has alternate, glabrous leaves without basal glands. The sepals are eglandular. The petals are free and can be blue, purple, or pink. The stigmas are capitate, clavate, or linear. The flowers can be homostylous or heterostylus. Section Dasylinum has leaves that are alternate, pubescent, and lacking basal glands. The sepals are glandular and ciliate while the petals are free and colored blue or pink. The stigmas are linear and the flowers are homostylous. Section Linastrum has leaves that are mostly glabrous and without basal glands. The sepals are glandular and ciliate while the petals are free and colored yellow, pink, or white. The stigmas are linear or capitate and only rarely clavate. The flowers can be homostylous or heterostylus. Section Cathartolinum has leaves that are opposite without basal glands while the petals are small, free, and white. The stigmas are capitate. The flowers are homostylous. The data on the chemical constituents of members of the family are relatively limited. Owing to its usefulness, most of the emphasis has been on the constituents of linseed oil. However, an increasing focus on other constituents of the seed that may have medicinal properties has occurred. The components of the seed that are of interest include the lipids, proteins, polysaccharides, and the phytochemicals. The phytochemical components include cyanogenic glycosides, lignans, phenolic acids, isoprenoids, and flavanoids. There are considerable variations in these components within flax varieties and between Linum species. No systematic use of these chemicals for taxonomic studies has been reported. Additional interest in these components in both flax and its relatives is due to their potential use in preventative medicine.

11 Linum

Seed storage protein analysis was carried out on 12 Iranian species of Linum (L. strictum, L. tenuifolium, L. corymbulosum, L. album, L. nodiflorum, L. austriacum, L. glaucum, L. usitatissimum, L. bienne, L. catharticum, L. bungei, and L. nervosum) to study species interrelationships and evaluate the taxonomic treatments proposed for the genus (Sharifnia and Assadi 2003). The cluster analysis of protein data and resulting placement of species in different sections was in agreement with previous phenetic morphology-based studies. Thus, the sodium dodecyl sulfite–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) profile of seed proteins can be another useful molecular marker in the biosystematics of genus Linum at subgeneric level.

11.4 Cytogenetic Stocks and Their Utility Most of the flax improvement has been carried out using traditional breeding methods. These traditional breeding programs have been successful in improving grain yield and agronomic fitness of linseed in western Canada (Rowland and Wilen 1998) but these efforts are time-consuming. One possible mechanism for reducing the time for variety development would be through the development of doubled haploid plants through anther or microspore culture. These techniques would be very useful where interspecific crosses are concerned for the immediate production of homozygous lines for the evaluation of diverse germplasm. The doubled haploid technology for linseed is not yet in wide use. The so-called twinning cultivars are known in flax, where the second embryo is formed from one of the antipodal cells, and it has the haploid chromosome number (Green and Salisbury 1983). However, this phenomenon is insufficiently frequent to produce haploids for breeding purposes. The first source of haploid plants reported in Linum was obtained via polyembryony (Kappert 1933), but anther culture is currently the most successful method of producing dihaploid (DH) lines in flax (Pretˇova´ et al. 2006). In spite of the improvements in the technology, DH production is still not suitable for practical breeding. Thus, flax is considered recalcitrant to anther culture-based regeneration of DH plants. One of the major side effects of tissue culture of higher plants is the occurrence of somaclonal variation.

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The somaclonal variation observed in anther culturederived flax plants included changes in petal color, other morphological changes including branching patterns and growth rate, and variation in resistance to Fusarium wilt (Rutkowska-Krause and Mankowska 2002).

11.5 Classical Mapping Flax has been the subject of inheritance studies for nearly a century and included the characterization of the inheritance of petal, anther, and seed color along with other characteristics. Flor’s work on disease resistance genes laid the foundations for a substantial part of modern disease resistance breeding (Beard 1962). The early mapping work identified genes involved in flower and petal color (Tammes 1922, 1928), anther color, filament color, stigma color, or seed color (Shaw et al. 1931). White flower color was controlled by a single gene (Myers 1936; McGregor 1937). Seed color is used in Canada to differentiate between the two main market types. The traditional, high linolenic acid flax must have brown seed, while solin or zero linolenic acid flax must be yellow-seeded. The four loci governing seed color were essentially inherited independently (Mittapalli and Rowland 2003). The flax–flax rust interaction, used first by Flor to demonstrate the gene-for-gene relationship between host plant resistance genes and corresponding pathogen avirulence genes (Flor 1956), has been the subject of extensive classical genetic analysis. The rust resistance genes were placed at five loci (K, L, M, N, and P) (Flor 1956). Additional disease resistance loci have been identified including Fusarium wilt resistance that was conditioned by multiple loci (Knowles and Houston 1955). The genetic mapping in flax has until very recently been relatively limited. Comstock (1963) investigated the linkage relationships between the color determinants rust resistance loci, and six chlorophyll mutants (Yg 1–4, Y1, and St1). The identification of a large number of polymorphic SSR loci (Cloutier et al. 2009) will substantially enhance the mapping and breeding efforts in Linum, and supercede those maps based on RAPDs and amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) because of their ease of utility across diverse germplasm.

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A small number of genes for economically important traits, such as those controlling the oil profile of the seeds and seed color have been used in breeding populations but without the development of an overall genetic map. The small size of the chromosomes and the only recent identification of these through banding patterns have also hindered the development of genetic maps with linkage groups assigned to identified chromosomes. A series of isozymes including those for diaphorase, leucine amino-peptidase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, acid phosphatase, phosphoglucomutase, and peroxidase have been mapped (Gorman et al. 1992). Gene discovery through ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) mutation screens have identified genes controlling the oil profile of the seeds and these have been incorporated into commercial varieties (Green 1986; Rowland et al. 1995; Saeidi and Rowland 1999). The fatty acid (FA) biosynthetic genes b-ketoacyl CoA synthase, FA elongase, stearoyl-ACP desaturase, and FA desaturase (Fofana et al. 2004) and a pectin methylesterase isoform (Al-Qsous et al. 2004) have been cloned. Mutation breeding in flax (L. usitatissimum L.) has been used to develop a new type of edible flaxseed oil that has nearly eliminated linolenic acid and quadrupled the level of palmitic acid. A variegated seed coat color mutant was used as a phenotypic marker to distinguish varieties with this particular fatty acid profile from those of linseed (high linolenic acid) or solin (low linolenic acid) varieties (Saeidi and Rowland 1997). All these efforts have been directly utilizing the L. usitatissimum and virtually no input from wild relatives (Diederichsen 2007). Linum bienne would be the most likely source of new genetic variation but the variation in this wild germplasm itself has not yet been characterized. The identification through molecular markers indicates that the diversity within the cultivated crop is low, so this will certainly spur on efforts to make more diverse combinations. Again, the availability of molecular markers to rapidly introgress useful genes from wild relatives will also make this process manageable.

11.6 Crop Improvement Substantial breeding efforts to improve yield and quality factors are underway in both the fiber and the oil crops. These classical efforts are being supplemented

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by additional techniques including mutation breeding, somaclonal variation, and transgenic technologies. Flax generates variants in tissue culture (somaclonal variation) (McHughen and Swartz 1984; Rowland et al. 1988; Rakousky et al. 1999). Anther cultures were less effective in plant regeneration than somatic cell cultures, but the regenerants derived from anther cells showed valuable breeding features, including increased resistance to fungal wilt.

11.6.1 EMS and Radiation Mutation EMS and radiation mutation induction has been successfully applied in flax to generate new mutants, especially those with altered oil quality (Rowland et al. 1995; Bhatia et al. 1999). Additional phenotypes that have been selected include curly stem (Tejklova´ 2002) and mutations that affect cell walls (Chen et al. 1998). Oil modifications have been induced in three cultivars, Gleneig (Green 1986), Rauloinus (Nichterlein et al. 1988), and McGregor (Rowland and Bhatty 1990; Rowland 1991; Ntiamoah et al. 1995; Ntiamoah and Rowland 1997) and used in breeding programs to generate new varieties.

11.6.2 Transgenic Flax Transgenic flax is already a reality since flax has been transformed both by Agrobacterium tumefaciens and by particle bombardment (Jordan and McHughen 1988; Dong and McHughen 1993). Flax-specific promoters are available and will become better characterized as a result of the molecular initiatives currently underway. Therefore, the specific tailoring of tissue-specific transgene expression is likely to be more easily achieved (Jain et al. 1999). A new herbicide-resistant flax line, Triffid, subsequently withdrawn, was created by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in which the transfer-DNA (T-DNA) contained the ALS gene from a chlorsulfuron-tolerant line of A. thaliana (McSheffrey et al. 1992). An alternative to modified flax as a conventional crop, would be to produce novel chemicals. An example is the synthesis of polyhydroxybutyrate in transgenic flax.

11 Linum

The synthesis of both the fibers and the polyhydroxybutyrate for composites in a single plant has been reported (Wro´bel et al. 2004).

11.7 Genomic Resources 11.7.1 Genome Characteristics The known characteristics of the flax genome have been identified using whole leaf DNA, and therefore included the chloroplast and mitochondrial components. The presence of two cesium chloride satellite fractions that comprise about 20% of the genome has been demonstrated (Fig. 11.3). The heavier satellite is mainly composed of the large and 5S ribosomal RNA gene clusters that occur in long tandem arrays as demonstrated by hybridization cross the gradient. The large ribosomal RNA gene repeat unit (8.6 kb) has been cloned and sequenced, and the sequence deposited in Genbank. A series of 5S rRNA gene families have also been sequenced. Renaturation kinetics (Cullis 1981) indicated that about 50% of the genome is low-copy-number sequences, a small fraction of intermediately repetitive

Fig. 11.3 Equilibrium cesium chloride gradient centrifugation using a Beckman Model E ultracentrifuge. The light and heavy satellite fractions are arrowed

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sequences (the normal component of transposons) and about 35–40% highly repetitive sequences, with all these sequences organized in a long-period interspersion pattern. The kinetic complexity calculated was only half that expected from the DNA estimation. Since this genome is certainly derived from a tetraploid, it is possible that the renaturation kinetic experiments were not stringent enough to differentiate between the two ancestral genomes. The sequencing will be able to do so since many protein-coding regions are polymorphic and appear as duplicate genes. Therefore, the sequencing is likely to be able to distinguish among the progenitor genomes and indicate whether or not L. usitatissimum is an ancient allo- or auto-polyploid. The picture of the genome organization of flax being in a long-period interspersion pattern has been confirmed from a small 454 shotgun sequencing run that yielded 1.6 MB of sequence data and the sequencing of a selected bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clone. The Genbank nonredundant database was then searched with the flax 454 sequence using both Blastx and Blastn (Table 11.3). The Blastn results mainly identified similarities to chloroplast DNAs, mitochondrial DNAs, the ribosomal RNA genes, and some of the known tandemly repeated families that had homology to certain Linum expressed sequence tags (ESTs). The distribution of the sequences was as expected from the renaturation kinetics. Thus, the proportion of the reads in each of these categories is given in Table 11.3. The data from the Blastx searches was very instructive and confirmed that the flax genome appears to be very much gene rich and relatively free from retrotransposons. The initial cut-off value for significance was e < 5 although all similarities were also interrogated. The data showed that many more reads were similar to known genes than to retrotransposons.

Table 11.3 Percentage of sequence types in preliminary 454 sequencing. The fraction of the reads in the chloroplast and ribosomal gene fractions were in agreement with earlier work estimating the representation of these sequences in such a DNA preparation Sequence type % Large ribosomal RNA genes 2.9 5S similarities 1.1 Chloroplast similarities 8.7 Mitochondrial similarities 0.65

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Hits to transposable elements (e < 5) – 1.4%. These hits were to the type proteins for both LTR and non-LTR retrotransposons. They included copia-type polyprotein, retrotransposon protein – putative Ty1copia subclass, reverse transcriptase, gag-pol polyprotein, integrase, putative TNP2-like transposon protein [Oryza sativa (japonica cultivar-group)], retrotransposon protein, putative, Ty3-gypsy subclass (O. sativa), non-LTR retroelement reverse transcriptase-like (Arabidopsis thaliana), RNA-dependent RNA polymerase family protein (A. thaliana), retrovirus-related Pol polyprotein from transposon TNT 1-94, and a putative transposase (A. thaliana). Hits to known proteins (e < 5) – 4.6% of all the reads representing 221 different proteins. Of particular interest is that the reads only represent 0.25% of the total flax genome. Therefore if, as appears likely, these data are representative of the genome as a whole, then the flax genome is very much gene rich and the assembly from shotgun reads should result in long contigs of gene-rich sequence information. Most of the repetitive families have been shown to be arranged in tandem arrays and also comprised about 20% of the total reads. The reads were categorized with respect to their A + T content. As expected, about 14% of the reads were of an A + T content of >70%. Included in this set were three families that were organized in tandem arrays. One of these tandemly arrayed, high A + T families, also has similarity with a Linum EST (L. usitatissimum clone LU0014H04 mRNA sequence). Therefore, all of the sample sequencing to date has confirmed the earlier characterization of the flax genome, particularly the presence of most of the repetitive sequences in tandem arrays and the low representation of known retrotransposons.

C. Cullis

Approximately 10,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) mapped to existing populations. Obviously, all this data are directly derived from the cultivated L. usitatissimum. Once collected, it will provide an extensive basis for then developing the appropriate information concerning the wild relatives. Early indications are that the genome of this genus has evolved very rapidly and so can be useful as a model to determine the mechanisms and influences that affect genome evolution.

11.8 Flax as a Functional Food The National Cancer Institute has identified flax seeds as a food product that deserves further study and attention because of its potential cancer-fighting properties and many health benefits. According to the US Department of Agriculture, flax seeds contain 27 identifiable cancer-preventive compounds. Medical sources that have published clinical results concluding that golden flax seed can have a positive impact on the overall health abound. Many potential health benefits of flax seeds that have been reported include lowering of blood cholesterol levels and blood pressure, reduced threat of blood clots and as a natural laxative. The components that make flax a useful dietary component clearly also are present in the many relatives. In particular, L. carthicum derives its name from its effect on the digestive tract. However, since there are a few studies on the relative abundances on the important lipid, protein, and phytochemical constituents of Linum species (Muir and Westcott 2003) more information about the useful ranges and additional compounds needs to be acquired.

11.7.2 Available Genomic Resources The Canadian flax biotechnology program has sequenced more than 250,000 ESTs. Additional data that these projects will provide includes: A physical map based on ~400,000 BAC-end sequences. A 50 shotgun sequence of the genome of the linseed cultivar Bethune.

11.9 Impediments for Introducing Transgenic Flax Flax is being evaluated as a crop platform for the production of bio-industrial and nutraceutical products. Since it is already capable of being transformed, novel traits can be introduced through genetic

11 Linum

engineering. The current climate related to the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is moving towards greater control so that the requirements for the release of GMOs are becoming more stringent. One of the most important considerations when GMOs containing any novel trait are proposed for release is the potential for gene flow to wild or weedy relatives and the impact it may have on their populations. Interspecific hybridization and cytogenetic studies between flax and congeneric species have demonstrated that cultivated flax has the ability to hybridize and form viable F1 plants with at least nine species of Linum (L. africanum, L. angustifolium, L. corymbiferum, L. decumbens, L. floccosum, L. hirsutum, L. nervosum, L. pallescens, and L. tenue) (Jhala et al. 2008). Although the hybridization of flax with many other wild relatives has yet to be reported, the data already to hand indicates that the potential for gene flow from transgenic flax to wild or weedy relatives is possible. Therefore, the release of transgenic flax with novel combinations of genes will need to be monitored to determine the extent of gene flow and its likely environmental consequences. Since all the components are in place for novel flax products and new genetic material to be integrated into the commercial germplasm, public acceptability is likely to limit their adoption rather than any technical difficulties in getting them developed. The status of Triffid, a transgenic flax that has contaminated some Canadian flaxseed exports adds to the difficulties in introducing transgenic flax.

11.10 The Future Flax has some unique properties that make it suitable to be used as a model system. It has clearly been important in the elucidation of the structure of disease resistance genes. It is also the best-studied example of genomic responses to the environment. In both of these cases, the understanding of the molecular events would have been facilitated by all the additional genomic resources that will soon be available. In many ways, flax is ideally positioned to become a useful model system. It is a multifunctional crop and can be effectively used to unravel both fiber and oil biosynthesis. The small size of the genome and its

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organization also make it relatively easy to isolate genes and ideal for genomic sequencing using the next generation sequencing methodologies. Essentially, the future for flax depends on the developing markets. If the importance and use for food (both health foods/nutraceuticals for humans and animal feed) and additional use for the fiber increase, then there will be a greater importance in understanding and manipulating flax. A detailed molecular marker map, as well as sharing of molecular resources, is a first priority. The development of the molecular map will also facilitate the screening of the germplasm and the detection of the extent of genetic variation present therein. The ease of transformation and regeneration is an additional asset since constructs can be tested in vivo and putative gene functions directly tested. As the crop becomes more important commercially, efforts to identify useful wild germplasm and the availability of such germplasm will become more important. One of the early steps in the use of molecular markers will be to determine the real diversity present in the germplasm collections and identify needs for additional collections in centers of wild species diversity.

References Al-Qsous S, Carpentier E, Klein-Eude D, Burel C, Mareck A, Dauchel H, Gomord V, Balange AP (2004) Identification and isolation of a pectin methylesterase isoform that could be involved in flax cell wall stiffening. Planta 219:369–378 Beard BH (1962) Genetic and cytogenetic investigations with Linum. The Flax Institute of the United States, Fargo, ND, USA, pp 3–6 Bhatia CR, Nichterlein K, Maluszynski M (1999) Oil seed cultivars developed from induced mutations and mutations altering fatty acid composition. Mutat Breed 11:1–38 Chen Y, Hausner G, Kenaschuk E, Procunier D, Dribnenki P, Penner G (1998) Identification of microspore-derived plants in anther culture of flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) using molecular markers. Plant Cell Rep 18:44–48 Cloutier S, Niu Z, Datla R, Duguid S (2009) Development and analysis of EST-SSRs for flax (Linum usitatissimum L.). Theor Appl Genet. doi 10.1007/s00122-009-1016-3 Comstock VE (1963) Linkage relationships in Flax. The Flax Institute of the United States, Fargo, ND, USA, pp 7–8 Cullis CA (1981) DNA sequence organization in the flax genome. Biochim Biophys Acta 652:1–15 Diederichsen A (2007) Ex situ collections of cultivated flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) and other species of the genus Linum L. Genet Resour Crop Evol 54:661–678

188 Diederichsen A, Fu Y-B (2008) Flax genetic diversity as the raw material for future success. http://www.saskflax.com/documents/presentations/06A_Diederichsen.pdf Dong J-Z, McHughen A (1993) An improved procedure for the production of transgenic flax plants using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Plant Sci 88:61–71 Flor HH (1956) The complementary genic systems in flax and flax rust. Adv Genet 8:29–54 Flora Europaea (1968) vol 2. LXXXVI. Linaceae. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 206–211 Fofana B, Duguid S, Cloutier S (2004) Cloning of fatty acid biosynthetic genes b-ketoacyl CoA synthase, fatty acid elongase, stearoyl-ACP desaturase, and fatty acid desaturase and analysis of expression in the early developmental stages of flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) seeds, Plant Science 166:1487–1496 Gorman MB, Cullis CA, Alldridge N (1992) Genetic linkage analysis of isozyme polymorphisms in flax. J Hered 84:73–80 Green AG (1986) A mutant genotype of flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) containing very low levels of linolenic acid in its seed oil. Can J Plant Sci 66:499–503 Green AG, Salisbury PA (1983) Inheritance of polyembryony in flax (Linum usitatissimum L.). Can J Genet Cytol 25:117–121 Harris BD (1968) Chrmosome numbers and evolution of North American species of Linum. Am J Bot 55:1197–1204 Jain RK, Thompson RG, Taylor DC, MacKenzie SL, McHughen A, Rowland GG, Tenaschuk D, Coffey M (1999) Isolation and characterization of two promoters from linseed for genetic engineering. Crop Sci 39:1696–1701 Jhala J, Hall LM, Hall JC (2008) Potential hybridization of flax with weedy and wild relatives: an avenue for movement of engineered genes? Crop Sci 48:825–840 Jordan MC, McHughen A (1988) Glyphosate tolerant flax plants from Agrobacterium mediated gene-transfer. Plant Cell Rep 7:281–284 Kappert H (1933) Erbliche Polyembryonie bei Linum usitatissimum. Biol Zbl 53:276–307 Knowles PF, Houston BR (1955) Inheritance of resistance to Fusarium wilt of flax in Dakota selection. Agron J 47:131–135 McDill J (2009) PhD Dissertation grant proposal, San Franciso State University. http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/simpsonlab/Joshua. html McGregor WG (1937) Inheritance of quality and quantity of oil in flax in relation to other plant characters. Can J Res C 15:362–379 McHughen A, Swartz M (1984) A tissue-culture derived salttolerant line of flax (Linum usitatissimum). J Plant Physiol 117:109–117 McSheffrey S, McHughen A, Devine M (1992) Characterization of transgenic sulfonylurea resistant flax. Theor Appl Genet 84:480–486 Mittapalli O, Rowland G (2003) Inheritance of seed color in flax. Crop Sci 43:1945–1951 Muir AD, Westcott ND (2003) Flax: the genus Linum. Taylor and Francis, New York, USA Muravenko OV, Lemesh VA, Samatadze TE, Amosova AV, Grushetskaya ZE, Popov KV, Semenova OYu, Khotyuleva LV, Zelenin AV (2003) Genome comparisons with chromosomal and molecular markers for three closely

C. Cullis related flax species and their hybrids. Russ J Genet 39:414–421 Myers WM (1936) A correlated study of the inheritance of seed size and botanical characters in the flax cross Redwing Ottawa770B. Agron J 28:623–635 Nichterlein K, Marquard R, Friedt W (1988) Breeding for modified fatty acid composition by induced mutations in linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.). Plant Breed 101:190–199 Ntiamoah C, Rowland GG (1997) Inheritance and characterization of two linolenic acid EMS induced McGregor mutant flax (Linum usitatissimum L.). Can J Plant Sci 77:353–358 Ntiamoah C, Rowland GG, Taylor DC (1995) Inheritance of elevated palmitic acid in flax and its relationship to the low linolenic acid. Crop Sci 35:148–152 Pavalek M (1998) Analysis of the current state of international flax database. Nat Fibres Spl Ed 1998(2):36–44 Pretˇova´ A, Obert B, Bartosˇova´ Z (2006) Haploid formation in maize, barley, flax, and potato. Protoplasma 228:107–114 Rakousky´ S, Tejklova´ E, Wiesner I, Wiesnerova´ D, Koca´bek T, Ondrˇej M (1999) Hygromycin B- an alternative in flax transformant selection. Biologia Plantarum, Bol 42:361–369 Ray C Jr (1944) Cytological studies on the flax genus, Linum. Am J Bot 31:241–248 Rowland GG (1991) An EMS-induced low-linolenic-acid mutant in McGregor flax (Linum usitatissimum L.). Can J Plant Sci 71:93–396 Rowland GG, Bhatty RS (1990) Ethyl methanesulphonate induced fatty acid mutations in flax. J Am Oil Chem Soc 67:213–214 Rowland GG, Wilen R (1998) New trends in linseed breeding. In: Proceedings of the bast fibrous plants today and tomorrow, St. Petersburg, 28–30 Sept 1998, NI Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry, St. Petersburg, Russia, pp 32–35 Rowland GG, McHughen A, Mconie C (1988) Field-evaluation on nonsaline soils of a somaclonal variant of Mcgregor flax selected for salt tolerance in vitro. Can J Plant Sci 68:345–349 Rowland GG, McHughen A, Bhatty RS, Mackenzie SL, Taylor DC (1995) The application of chemical mutagenesis and biotechnology to the modification of linseed (Linum usitatissimum L). Euphytica 85:317–321 Rozhmina TA, Zhuchenko AA (1998) Study of National Russian flax collections of VNIIL. Nat Fibres Spl Ed 1998(2):50–56 Rutkowska-Krause I, Mankowska G (2002) Haploidization and somaclonal variationin flax breeding programme. In: Proceedings of 59th Flax Institute, Fargo, North Dakota, USA, pp 179–191 Saeidi G, Rowland GG (1997) The inheritance of variegated seed color and palmitic acid in flax. J Hered 88:466–468 Saeidi G, Rowland GG (1999) Seed colour and linolenic acid effects on agronomic traits in flax. Can J Plant Sci 79: 521–526 Sharifnia F, Assadi M (2003) Seed protein analysis in relation to taxonomy of the Iranian Linum species. Iran J Bot 10:49–54 Shaw FJK, Khan AR, Alam M (1931) Studies in Indian oilseeds. V The inheritance of characters in Indian linseed. Indian J Agric Sci 1:1–57 Strange K, Rix M (2007) Linum doerfleri. Curtis’s Bot Mag 24:12–17

11 Linum Tammes T (1922) Genetic analysis, schemes of cooperation and multiple allemorphs of Linum usitatissimum. J Genet 12: 19–46 Tammes T (1928) The genetics of the genus Linum. Bibliogr Genet 4:1–36

189 Tejklova´ E (2002) Curly stem – an induced mutation in flax (Linum usitatissimum L.). Czech J Genet Plant Breed 38:125–128 Wro´bel M, Zebrowski J, Szopa J (2004) Polyhydroxybutyrate synthesis in transgenic flax. J Biotechnol 107:41–54

.

Chapter 12

Moricandia Muhammad Tahir and Roger Watts

12.1 Introduction Moricandia has been used as an ornamental garden flowering plant commonly called Purple Mistress (Harvill et al. 1977) and Violet Cabbage (Harvey 1975). However, the genus Moricandia represents a diverse group of hardy herbaceous plants found in North Africa, Mediterranean basin, West Asia, and Southeast Asia. The genus is considered as one of the tribes of Brassiceae based on the original establishment of boundaries of Brassiceae (Schulz 1936), later identification of 38–63 cytodemes of the coenospecies of Brassica (Harberd 1972; Gomez-Campo 1999), identification of Moricandia, Pseuderucaria, and Rytidocarpus as Brassica coenospecies and part of a subtribe Moricandiinae (Warwick and Black 1997), and morphological or cytogenetic similarities with the Brassica coenospecies (Gomez-Campo 1999). Based on these literary resources, the genus Moricandia and its species can be classified as given in Table 12.1. Some research efforts have been made to find the relationship of Moricandia with species of Brassica. Early reports (Takahata and Takeda 1990) indicated that interspecific crosses of Moricandia with Brassica A- and B-genome show genetic similarity with A- and B-genome indicating partial chromosome homology. Example of successful interspecific hybridization using ovary culture to produce hybrid lines between Moricandia and Brassica napus and B. juncea were

M. Tahir (*) Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba, 222, Agriculture Bldg, 55 Dafoe Rd, Winnipeg (MB) R3T 2N2, Canada e-mail: [email protected]

then reported (Takahata et al. 1993). Pradhan et al. (1992) also identified M. arvensis to share similarity to the Brassica lineage as compared to Sinapis, Diplotaxis, and Erucastrum lineages. Later, chloroplast restriction site analysis revealed that Moricandia belonged to the lineage of B. rapa and B. oleracea (Warwick and Black 1997), supporting the classification suggested by Gomez-Campo of Brassica subtribes and confirms that Moricandia is a coenospecies of Brassica (Warwick 2005). In more recent studies (Inaba and Nishio 2002), physiological analysis of S-locus shows a distant relationship between B. rapa and B. olereaca, as it is grouped separately from the rest of Brassica group. This physiological analysis shows a distant relationship between the current Brassica cultivated lines and Moricandia. The species of Moricandia are differentiated from each other based on the morphological characteristics, growth habit, and habitats. Some prominent features of the species in terms of their growth and geographical distribution are summarized in the Table 12.2. The genome size of Moricandia has not been studied to date; however, Moricandia species are polyploid containing 14 chromosomes (2n ¼28) based on the smallest chromosome number of 7 observed in the Brassica genera (Harberd 1972; Warwick et al. 2009). The original diploid homolog for Moricandia sp. is still unknown. Moricandia has species that exceed tetraploidy containing cytodemes of 6x and 8x (Sobrino-Vesperinas 1980). For example, M. suffruticosa is a tetraploid with n ¼ 28 (Sobrino-Vesperinas 1980), and M. spinosa is a hexaploid with n ¼ 42 (Sobrino-Vesperinas 1980). Currently, there are eight recognized species of Moricandia. Preservation of Moricandia sp. is concentrated in Spain but accessions are preserved in multiple institutions within Europe (Table 12.3).


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Table 12.1 Scientific classification of Moricandia sp. Kingdom: Plantae Subkingdom: Tracheobionta Superdivision: Spermatophyta Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Subclass: Dilleniidae Order: Capparales Family: Brassicaceae Genus: Moricandia Species: Moricandia arvensis Moricandia foetida Moricandia foleyii Moricandia oricandioides Moricandia nitens Moricandia sinaica Moricandia spinosa Moricandia suffruticosa

(Plants) (Vascular plants) (Seed plants) (Flowering plants) (Dicotyledons)

(Mustard family) (Moricandia) (Purple Mistress)

(Violet cabbage)

References: Schulz (1936); Harberd (1972); Harvey (1975); Harvill et al. (1977); Warwick and Black (1997); Gomez-Campo (1999)

Table 12.2 Geographical distribution and growth habits of identified Moricandia sp. (adapted from Warwick et al. 2009) Species Growth Habitat Distribution Origin habita Moricandia arvensis (L.) DC. A, B, P Coastlines; Hilly S. Europe; N. Africa Mediterranean regions Moricandia foetida Bourg. ex Coss. B Coastal hills S. Europe Mediterranean Moricandia foleyii Batt A Desert regions N. Africa Mediterranean Moricandia moricandioides (Boiss.) P Semi-arid regions S. Europe Mediterranean Heywood Moricandia nitens (Viv.) E.A. Durand & P Coastal deserts N. Africa; W. Asia; Middle Saharo-Sindian Barratte East Moricandia sinaica (Boiss.) Boiss. A, B, P Desert regions W. Asia; Middle East Saharo-Sindian Moricandia spinosa Pomel P Desert regions N. Africa Saharo-Sindian Moricandia suffruticosa (Desf.) Coss. & P Desert regions N. Africa Saharo-Sindian Durieu a A Annual, P Perennial, B Biennial

Table 12.3 Accession line of Moricandia species maintained in Europe Location Species Comunidad de Madrid: Madrid, M. arvensis, M. spinosa, M. suffruticosa, M. moricandioides, Spain M. sinaica, M. nitens, M. foleyii Junta de Andalucia: Almeria, M. moricandioides, M. arvensis Spain Genebank: Leibniz, Germany M. arvensis Millenium Seed Bank Project: M. suffruticosa, M. nitens, M. arvensis West Sussex, UK Source: Eurisco 2010

Protocols for preservation of Brassiceae tribes have been developed by storing the seeds in a sealed glass vial containing silica gel and the removal of oxygen. This produces an anhydrous and anaerobic environment

Source Algeria, Italy, Spain, Tunisia, Morocco Spain Italy, Tunisia Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia

for long-term storage under cold conditions such as 5 to 10 C (Gomez-Campo 1972). This method of preservation has been shown to maintain high viability in the seed for up to 40 years (Perez-Garcia et al. 2007).

12 Moricandia

Cryopreservation of M. arvensis cell suspensions has also been used as a method of preserving Moricandia germplasm (Craig et al. 1997a). Interspecific hybridization of Moricandia with other Brassica species has been used for the study of phylology, physiology, and trait introgression. The interspecific crosses using Moricandia sp. has been used to study C3–C4 intermediate characteristics of M. arvensis and to introduce cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) and restorer genes into B. juncea. A number of techniques have been practiced to develop wide hybridization between Moricandia and it distant Brassica relatives (Table 12.4).

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Somatic hybridization using protoplast fusion has been used to introduce the Moricandia genome into cultivated species. Early somatic hybridization was completed using B. oleracea and B. juncea for introducing Moricandia nuclear and plasmid DNA (Toriyama et al. 1987; Kirti et al. 1992). Somatic hybrids of M. arvensis and B. juncea were used to develop CMS and restorer lines (Prakash et al. 1998a; Bhat et al. 2006). Protoplast fusion has also been used to study the heritability of C3–C4 intermediate photosynthesis by developing hybrids with B. napus, B. rapa, and B. oleracea (O’Neill et al. 1996; Meng et al. 1999; Yan et al. 1999).

Table 12.4 Interspecific and intergenic crosses involving Moricandia sp. (adapted from Warwick et al. 2009) Cross Crossing Method References Moricandia arvensis + Brassica juncea Protoplast fusion Kirti et al. (1992) M. arvensis B. juncea Ovary culture, reciprocal unsuccessful Takahata et al. (1993) (M. arvensis + B. juncea) B. juncea Backcross Prakash et al. (1998) (M. arvensis + B. juncea) B. juncea Sexual hybridization/backcross Bhat et al. (2006) B. napus M. arvensis Ovule culture, reciprocal unsuccessful Zenkteler (1990) B. napus + M. arvensis Protoplast fusion O’Neill et al. (1996) B. napus + M. nitens Protoplast fusion Meng et al. (1999) M. arvensis B. napus Ovary culture Meng et al. (1997) M. arvensis B. napus Ovary culture Meng (1998) M. arvensis B. napus Ovary culture, reciprocal unsuccessful Takahata et al. (1993) M. nitens B. napus Ovule culture Rawsthorne et al. (1998) M. nitens + B. napus Protoplast fusion Meng et al. (1999) (M. nitens B. oleracea) B. napus Ovary/ovule culture Beschorner et al. (1999) M. arvensis B. nigra Ovary culture Takahata and Takeda (1990) B. oleracea M. nitens Ovary/Ovule culture, reciprocal successful Beschorner et al. (1999) B. oleracea + M. nitens Protoplast fusion Meng et al. (1999) B. oleracea + M. nitens Protoplast fusion Yan et al. (1999) B. alboglabra M. arvensis Sexual hybridization Apel et al. (1984) M. arvensis B. oleracea Ovary culture, reciprocal unsuccessful Takahata and Takeda (1990) M. arvensis + B. oleracea Protoplast fusion Toriyama et al. (1987) M. nitens B. oleracea Ovary/ovule rescue, reciprocal successful Beschorner et al. (1999) M. nitens + B. oleracea Protoplast fusion Meng et al. (1999) B. rapa M. arvensis Ovary culture, reciprocal successful Takahata and Takeda (1990) B. rapa M. arvensis Embryo culture Matsuzawa et al. (1998) M. arvensis B. rapa Ovary culture, reciprocal successful Takahata and Takeda (1990) M. nitens + B. rapa Protoplast culture Meng et al. (1999) D. muralis M. arvensis Sexual hybridization Razmjoo et al. (1996) D. tenuifolia M. arvensis Ovule culture Zenkteler (1990) R. sativus M. arvensis Embryo culture, reciprocal successful Bang et al. (1997) M. arvensis R. sativus Ovary culture, reciprocal unsuccessful Bang et al. (1995) M. arvensis R. sativus Sexual hybridization, reciprocal unsuccessful Bang et al. (1996) M. arvensis R. sativus Ovary/embryo culture Bang et al. (1996) M. arvensis R. sativus Embryo culture, reciprocal successful Bang et al. (1997) M. arvensis B. oleracea Protoplast fusion Ishikawa et al. (2003)

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Wide hybridization of Moricandia sp. with other species of the Brassicaceae family using ovary and ovule culture has successfully developed interspecific hybrids between Raphanus, Brassica, and Diplotaxis species (Takahata and Takeda 1990; Zenkteler 1990; Takahata et al. 1993; Bang et al. 1996; Beschorner et al. 1999). Ovary culture has been used to attempt to introduce C3–C4 intermediate photosynthesis in to B. oleracea (Takahata 1990) and B. napus (O’Neill et al. 1996). Other techniques that have been used to produce interspecific hybrids of Moricandia include embryo rescue and sexual hybridization. The use of embryo rescue has been completed successfully in B. napus, B. oleracea, B. rapa, and Raphanus sativus (Meng et al. 1997; Matsuzawa et al. 1998; Meng 1998). Embryo rescue was used to develop C3–C4–C3 intermediate hybrids between B. napus and M. nitens (Rawsthorne et al. 1998). Sexual hybridization has been less commonly used in Brassica alboglabra and Diplotaxis muralis (Apel et al. 1984; Razmjoo et al. 1996). The development of these wide hybrids have allowed the introduction of novel traits from Moricandia into cultivated Brassicaceae genera. Moricandia sp. has been studied extensively due to C3–C4 intermediate photosynthesis observed in the species. Early characterization of Moricandia identified enzymatic and morphological characteristics that produced the C3–C4 intermediate characteristics (Holaday et al. 1981, 1982). The C3–C4 intermediate phenotype was determined to have a concentration of chloroplast in the bundle sheath surrounding the vascular bundles in a Kranz-like structure. This is complemented by a naturally occurring mutation that allows the recapture of carbon lost by photorespiration by having glycine decarboxylase (GDC) function only in bundle sheath cells due to the lack of the glycine decarboxylase P protein in mesophyll cells (Rylott et al. 1996). This produces a lower CO2 compensation concentration, effectively reducing the rate of loss due to photorespiration by allowing for the capture of lost carbon due to the changes in GDC and chloroplast and mitochondrial clustering in the bundle sheath cells (Hylton et al. 1988; Rawsthorne et al. 1988a, b). This unique morphology was identified as the Moricandia syndrome, which is observed in M. arvensis, M. nitens, and M. suffruticosa. Other related species in Brassicaceae, Diplotaxis and other Moricandia species, have

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variations of C3–C4 intermediate photosynthesis (Apel et al. 1997). The C3–C4 intermediate phenotype in Moricandia was first identified by a concentration of photosynthetic and photorespiratory components in the mesophyll and bundle sheath cells of leaf tissue (Winter et al. 1982; Apel et al. 1996). A detailed anatomy of the Moricandia leaf structure showed that, in the leaf tissue, there is an increased lateral contact between mesophyll cells into the vascular system. The leaf morphology shows a curvature of the palisade and spongy parenchyma cells towards the bundle sheath cells to increase contact. Additionally, there are a large amount of minor veins within the leaf to increase the contact of mesophyll and bundle sheath cells (Beebe and Evert 1990). This leaf architecture shows an increase in the efficiency of the movement of photosynthates in the vascular bundles to decrease losses due to photorespiration. These characteristic have allowed Moricandia to be successful in drier regions due to an increase in water use efficiency (McVetty et al. 1989; Apel 1994b). The Moricandia syndrome, which defines the C3–C4 intermediate photosynthesis observed in several Moricandia sp., is thought to be a clue in the evolutionary development of C4 photosynthesis (Apel 1994a). The anatomy of this C3–C4 intermediate is unique, as it does not incorporate phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxylase to recover carbon lost to photorespiration as observed in C4 species (Brown 1997). Studies have shown that photorespiration in M. arvensis was not impacted by PEP carboxylase, which is observed in another C3–C4 intermediate Flaveria floridana (Leegood and Voncaemmerer 1994). This may suggest that the physiological characteristics observed in Moricandia C3–C4 intermediates represent an early transition of C3 to C4. The C3–C4 intermediate characteristics of Moricandia are of interest to plant breeders, as it could be used as a source for improving the drought tolerance of cultivated Brassica sp. Interspecific crosses have been developed to study the inheritance of the C3–C4 intermediate in attempts to introduce it into breeding lines. Early sexual crosses with B. alboglabra and M. arvensis produced an intermediate phenotype between C3 and C3–C4 photosynthesis (Apel et al. 1984). An interspecific cross between related species M. moricandioides and M. arvensis, which have C3 and C3–C4 phenotypes, respectively, produced an

12 Moricandia

intermediate carbon compensation level (Rawsthorne and Hylton 1991). Additional crosses using protoplast fusion and ovary/ovule culture have produced similar intermediate phenotypes (O’Neill et al. 1996). Backcrosses to C3 parental lines have produce reduced carbon compensation, which suggests that the C3–C4 intermediate phenotype is controlled by nuclear genes (Ueno et al. 2007). This was further supported by the development of monosomic addition lines, which showed that the glycine decarboxylase and bundle sheath adaptations were present on one chromosome of M. arvensis (Bang et al. 2009). GDC has been studied with respect to the differential expression of the GDC P protein in the bundle sheath cell and mesophyll cell. The expression of GDC P has been linked to light intensity (Hunt et al. 1987) and serine hydrooxymethyltransferase in the bundle sheath cell (Morgan et al. 1993). The increase in GDC P expression suggests a role in the localization of glycine metabolism in bundle sheath cells to recapture lost carbon due to photorespiration (Morgan et al. 1993). This compartmentalization has been used to reduce the carbon loss by inhibiting the metabolism of glycine in the mesophyll cell, allowing it to be recovered in the bundle sheath cells. A dominant marker gdcP was developed from the gdc gene for C3–C4 intermediate phenotype in the integration of into B. napus using a M. nitens B. olereaca somatic hybrid (Zhang et al. 2004). Moricandia sp. has been identified as a CMS source in B. juncea. CMS makes the development of hybrid cultivars in open-pollinated crops by inhibiting the production of pollen or anther development. M. arvensis was identified as a source of CMS in B. juncea by inhibiting pollen production (Kirti et al. 1998). The developed lines were chlorotic and required backcrossing and selection to produce viable female lines. Characterization of CMS systems of B. juncea shows that Moricandia CMS has unaltered floral organs. The only identifying characteristic is its non-viable pollen making it similar to B. oxyrrhina CMS in B. juncea (Singh and Srivastava 2006). Analysis of the source of CMS in B. juncea using Moricandia cytoplasm has identified atpa as a candidate for the mitochondria source gene for CMS (Gaikwad et al. 2006). Analysis of transcription of this gene produced a 2,800-bp RNA fragment in the male sterile line, which was found to be different from the 1,900-bp transcription factor observed in the

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restored lines. It is, therefore, suspected that altered transcription or RNA editing is responsible for the male sterility (Gaikwad et al. 2006). In CMS B. juncea using Moricandia cytoplasm, an open-reading frame gene orf108 was identified as being cotranscribed atpa in male sterile flowers. The function of this gene has not been identified but it is suggested that it may produce a soluble protein, and it is unclear whether the protein is toxic in the cell or inhibits translation of atpa to cause the sterility to occur (Ashutosh et al. 2008). CMS hybrid production also requires a restorer gene to allow for the hybrid lines to be viable. These genes are generally nuclear-inherited and M. arvensis was identified as a source for restorer genes in Moricandia CMS in B. juncea (Prakash et al. 1998a). Other Brassicaceae species Diplotaxis berthautii, D. eruciodes, D. catholica, and Brassica oxyrrhina were identified as sources of CMS in B. juncea. Moricandia restorer lines were used to restore male fertility in these CMS, making it a valuable source of restorer lines to multiple B. juncea CMS lines (Bhat et al. 2005, 2006, 2008; Singh and Srivastava 2006). Tissue culture is an important tool in the genetic study of plant species and for the development of transgenic plants. Multiple techniques have been used in Moricandia sp. to allow the generation tissue culture derived plants. Plant regeneration has been completed using a number of tissues including hypocotyl, cotyledon, and stem explants (Khehra and Mathias 1992; Craig et al. 1997b). Plant regeneration has also been successfully completed using mesophyll protoplasts to produce plants in M. arvensis and M. nitens (Murata and Mathias 1992; Tian and Meng 1998). Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation to produce transgenic plants in M. arvensis has been competed using leaf-disk-derived explants with good success (Rashid et al. 1996). Moricandia has been shown to have potential health benefits unique to this species. The leaves of the Moricandia plant have been used in traditional cooking in Tunisia (Skandrani et al. 2009) and have been used in the treatment of syphilis (Le Floch 1983). Recently, Moricandia leaf extracts has been shown to have a number of potential health benefits. The leaf extract has been shown to have high antioxidant and antigenotoxic effects (Skandrani et al. 2010b). It has been shown to have free-radical scavenging properties, effectively reducing the reactive oxygen species (ROS) in E. coli (Skandrani et al. 2007).

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Moricandia extract has been shown to reduce the proliferation of human cancer cells (Skandrani et al. 2010a). The four novel phenolic glycosides identified in M. arvensis were found to have antioxidant characteristics (Braham et al. 2005). These compounds could be used in nutraceutical research by introducing them into other field crops or the development of a cultivated M. arvensis cultivar.

References Apel P (1994a) Evolution of the C-4 photosynthetic pathway: a physiologists’ point of view. Photosynthetica 30:495–502 Apel P (1994b) Water use efficiency in Flaveria and Moricandia species. Biol Plant 36:243–246 Apel P, Bauwe H, Ohle H (1984) Hybrids between Brassica alboglabra and Moricandia arvensis and their photosynthetic properties. Biochem Physiol Pflanzen 179:793–797 Apel P, Hillmer S, Pfeffer M, Muhle K (1996) Carbon metabolism type of Diplotaxis tenuifolia (L) DC (Brassicaceae). Photosynthetica 32:237–243 Apel P, Horstmann C, Pfeffer M (1997) The Moricandia syndrome in species of the Brassicaceae – evolutionary aspects. Photosynthetica 33:205–215 Ashutosh, Kumar P, Kumar VD, Sharma PC, Prakash S, Bhat SR (2008) A novel orf108 co-transcribed with the atpA gene is associated with cytoplasmic male sterility in Brassica juncea carrying Moricandia arvensis cytoplasm. Plant and Cell Physiology 49:284–289 Bang SW, Kaneko Y, Matsuzawa Y (1995) Intergeneric hybrids between Moricandia arvensis and Raphanus sativus. Cruciferae Newsletter 17:16–17 Bang SW, Kaneko Y, Matsuzawa Y (1996) Production of intergeneric hybrids between Raphanus and Moricandia. Plant Breed 115:385–390 Bang SW, Iida T, Minami T, Kaneko Y, Matsuzawa Y (1997) Production of hybrid progenies between radish and allied genera. Cruciferae Newsletter 19:15–16 Bang SW, Ueno S, Wada Y, Hong SK, Kaneko Y, Matsuzawa Y (2009) Production of Raphanus sativus (C-3)-Moricandia arvensis (C-3-C-4 intermediate) monosomic and disomic addition lines with each parental cytoplasmic background and their photorespiratory characteristics. Plant Product Sci 12:70–79 Beebe DU, Evert RF (1990) The morphology and anatomy of the leaf of Moricandia arvensis L. DC. Brassicaceae. Bot Gaz 151:184–203 Beschorner M, Warwick SI, Lydiate DJ (1999) Interspecies transfer of improved water use efficiency from Moricandia into Brassica. In: 10th international rapeseed congress, vol 83, Canberra, Australia, 4–8 July 1999 Bhat SR, Prakash S, Kirti PB, Dinesh Kumar V, Chopra VL (2005) A unique introgression from Moricandia arvensis confers male fertility upon two different cytoplasmic male-sterile lines of Brassica juncea. Plant Breed 124:117–120

M. Tahir and R. Watts Bhat SR, Vijayan P, Ashutosh DKK, Prakash S (2006) Diplotaxis erucoides-induced cytoplasmic male sterility in Brassica juncea is rescued by the Moricandia arvensis restorer: genetic and molecular analyses. Plant Breed 125:150–155 Bhat SR, Kumar P, Prakash S (2008) An improved cytoplasmic male sterile (Diplotaxis berthautii) Brassica juncea: identification of restorer and molecular characterization. Euphytica 159:145–152 Braham H, Mighri Z, Ben Jannet H, Matthew S, Abreu PM (2005) Antioxidant phenolic glycosides from Moricandia arvensis. J Nat Product 68:517–522 Brown RH (1997) Analysis of bundle sheath conductance and C4 photosynthesis using a PEP-carboxylase inhibitor. Aust J Plant Physiol 24:549–554 Craig W, Anthony P, Oneill CM, Mathias RJ, Power JB, Lowe KC, Davey MR (1997a) Cryopreservation of Moricandia arvensis (L) DC (Brassicaceae) cell suspensions: beneficial effects of Pluronic F-68. Cryo Letters 18:201–208 Craig W, Wiegand A, O’Neill CM, Mathias RJ, Power JB, Davey MR (1997b) Somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration from stem explants of Moricandia arvensis. Plant Cell Rep 17:27–31 Eurisco, Taxonomy – Institutional holdings. Bioversity International. http://eurisco.ecpgr.org/home_page/home.php. Accessed 26 Apr 2010 Gaikwad K, Baldev A, Kirti PB, Mohapatra T, Bhat SR, Chopra V, Prakash S (2006) Organization and expression of the mitochondrial genome in CMS (Moricandia) Brassica juncea: nuclear-mitochondrial incompatibility results in differential expression of the mitochondrial atp alpha gene. Plant Breed 125:623–628 Gomez-Campo C (1972) Preservation of West Mediterranean members of the Cruciferous tribe Brassiceae. Biol Conserv 4:355–360 Gomez-Campo C (1999) Biology of Brassica coenospecies, 1st edn. Elsevier, Amsterdam Harberd DJ (1972) Contribution to Cyto-taxonomy of Brassica (Cruciferae) and its allies. Bot J Linn Soc 65:1–25 Harvey JH (1975) Gardening books and plant lists of Moorish Spain, vol 3. Gard Hist 3(2):10–21 Harvill AM, Stevens CE, Ware DME (1977) Atlas of the Virginia flora. Part 1. Petridophytes through monocotyledons. Virginia Botanical Associates, Farmville, VA Holaday AS, Shieh YJ, Lee KW, Chollet R (1981) Anatomical, ultrastructureal and enzymic studies of leaves of Moricandia arvensis, a C3-C4 intermediate species. Biochim Biophys Acta 637:334–341 Holaday AS, Harrison AT, Chollet R (1982) Photosynthetic/ photorespiratory CO2 exchange characteristica of the C3-C4 intermediate species, Moricanida arvensis. Plant Sci Lett 27:181–189 Hunt S, Smith AM, Woolhouse HW (1987) Evidence for a lightdependant system for reassimilation of photorespiratory CO2, which does not include a C4 cycle, in the C3-C4 intermediate species Moricandia arvensis. Planta 171: 227–234 Hylton CM, Rawsthorne S, Smith AM, Jones DA, Woolhouse HW (1988) Glycine decarboxylase is confined to the bundle sheath cells of leaves of C3-C4 intermediate species. Planta 175:452–459

12 Moricandia Inaba R, Nishio T (2002) Phylogenetic analysis of Brassiceae based on the nucleotide sequences of the S-locus related gene, SLR1. Theor Appl Genet 105:1159–1165 Ishikawa S, Bang SW, Kaneko Y, Matsuzawa Y (2003) Production and characterization of intergeneric somatic hybrids between Moricandia arvensis and Brassica oleracea. Plant Breed 122:233–238 Khehra GS, Mathias RJ (1992) Plant-regeneration from hypocotyls, cotyledons and stem segments of the C3-C4 intermediate species Moricandia arvensis. Plant Cell Rep 11:412–415 Kirti PB, Narasimhulu SB, Prakash S, Chopra VL (1992) Somatic hybridization betweeen Brassica juncea and Moricanida arvensis by protoplast fusion. Plant Cell Rep 11:318–321 Kirti PB, Prakash S, Gaikwad K, Kumar VD, Bhat SR, Chopra VL (1998) Chloroplast substitution overcomes leaf chlorosis in a Moricandia arvensis based cytoplasmic male sterile Brassica juncea. Theor Appl Genet 97:1179–1182 Le Floch E (1983) Contribution a` une Etude Ethnobotanique de la Flore Tunisienne, Ministe`re de L’Ensiegnement Supe´rieur et de la Recherche Scientifique. Imprimeriie Officielle de la Re´publique Tunisienne, Tunis Leegood RC, Voncaemmerer S (1994) Regulation of photosynthetic carbon assimilation in leaves of C3-C4 intermediate species of Moricandia and Flaveria. Planta 192:232–238 Matsuzawa Y, Bang SW, Kaneko Y (1998) Production of hybrid progenies between Brassica campestris and Moricandia arvensis. Cruciferae Newsl 20:21–22 McVetty PBE, Austin RB, Morgan CL (1989) A comparison of the growth, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and water use efficiency of Moricandia and Brassica species. Ann Bot 64:87–94 Meng J-L (1998) Studies on the relationships between Moricandia and Brassica species. Acta Bot Sin 40:508–514 Meng J-L, Gan L, Zhun Y (1997) Hybridization and hybrids analysis between Moricandia arvensis and Brassica napus. Cruciferae Newsl 19:25–26 Meng J-L, Yan Z, Tian Z, Huang R, Huang BPtIRC, Australia. Contribution No 6. (1999) Somatic hybrids between Moricandia nitens and three Brassica species. In: 10th international rapeseed congress, vol 6, Canberra, Australia, 4–8 July 1999 Morgan CL, Turner SR, Rawsthorne S (1993) Coordination of the cell-specific distribution of the 4 subunits of glycine decarboxylase and of serine hydroxymethyltransferase in leaves of C3-C4 intermediate species from different genera. Planta 190:468–473 Murata T, Mathias RJ (1992) Plant-regeneration from mesophyll protoplasts of Moricandia arvensis. Plant Cell Rep 11:408–411 O’Neill CM, Murata T, Morgan CL, Mathias RJ (1996) Expression of the C-3-C-4 intermediate character in somatic hybrids between Brassica napus and the C-3-C-4 species Moricandia arvensis. Theor Appl Genet 93:1234–1241 Perez-Garcia F, Gonzalez-Benito ME, Gomez-Campo C (2007) High viability recorded in ultra-dry seeds of 37 species of Brassicaceae after almost 40 years of storage. Seed Sci Technol 35:143–153 Pradhan AK, Prakash S, Mukhopadhyay A, Pental D (1992) Phylogeny of Brassica and allied genera based on variation in chloroplast and mitocondrial DNA patterns – molecular

197 and taxonomic classifications are incongruous. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 85:331–340 Prakash S, Kirti PB, Bhat SR, Gaikwad K, Kumar VD, Chopra VL (1998a) A Moricandia arvensis – based cytoplasmic male sterility and fertility restoration system in Brassica juncea. Theor Appl Genet 97:488–492 Prakash S, Kirti PB, Chopra VL (1998) Development of cytoplasmic male sterility – fertility restoration systems of variable origin in mustard – Brassica juncea. In: Thomas G, Monteiro AA (eds) Brassica 97, International symposium on Brassicas, Rennes, France, 23–27 Sept 1998, pp 299-304 Rashid H, Toriyama K, Hinata K (1996) Transgenic plant production from leaf discs of Moricandia arvensis using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Plant Cell Rep 15:799–803 Rawsthorne S, Hylton CM (1991) The relationship between the post-illumination CO2 burst and glycine metabolism in leaves of C3 and C3-C4 intermediate species of Moricandia. Planta 186:122–126 Rawsthorne S, Hylton CM, Smith AM, Woolhouse HW (1988a) Distribution of photorespiratory enzymes between bundle-sheath and mesophyll cells in leaves of the C3-C4 intermediate species Moricandia arvensis (L) DC. Planta 176:527–532 Rawsthorne S, Hylton CM, Smith AM, Woolhouse HW (1988b) Photorespiratory metabolism and immunogold localization of photorespiratory enzymes in leaves of C3 and C3-C4 intermediate species of Moricandia. Planta 173:298–308 Rawsthorne S, Morgan CL, O’Neill CM, Hylton CM, Jones DA, Frean ML (1998) Cellular expression pattern of the glycine decarboxylase P protein in leaves of an intergeneric hybrid between the C3-C4 intermediate species Moricandia nitens and the C3 species Brassica napus. Theor Appl Genet 96:922–927 Razmjoo K, Toriyama K, Ishii R, Hinata K (1996) Photosynthetic properties of hybrids between Diplotaxis muralis DC, a C3 species, and Moricandia arvensis (L) DC, a C3-C4 intermediate species in Brassicaceae. Genes Genet Syst 71:189–192 Rylott L, Turner S, Bhatt A, Franza T, Rawsthorne S (1996) Control of metabolic and developmental processes in the C-3-C-4 intermediate Moricandia arvensis. J Exp Bot 47:75 Schulz OE (1936) Cruciferae, vol 17B. Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig, Germany Singh KH, Srivastava KK (2006) Characterization of different cytoplasmic male sterility systems in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L. Czern & Coss). Plant Breed 125:72–76 Skandrani I, Ben Sghaier M, Neffati A, Boubaker J, Bouhlel I, Kilani S, Mahmoud A, Ghedira K, Chekir-Ghedira L (2007) Antigenotoxic and free radical scavenging activities of extracts from Moricandia arvensis. Drug Chem Toxicol 30:361–382 Skandrani I, Bouhlel I, Limem I, Boubaker J, Bhouri W, Neffati A, Ben Sghaier M, Kilani S, Ghedira K, Ghedira-Chekir L (2009) Moricandia arvensis extracts protect against DNA damage, mutagenesis in bacteria system and scavenge the superoxide anion. Toxicol In Vitro 23:166–175 Skandrani I, Boubaker J, Bhouri W, Limem I, Kilani S, Ben Sghaier M, Neffati A, Bouhlel I, Ghedira K, Chekir-Ghedira L (2010a) Leaf extracts from Moricandia arvensis promote antiproliferation of human cancer cells, induce apoptosis,

198 and enhance antioxidant activity. Drug Chem Toxicol 33:20–27 Skandrani I, Limem I, Neffati A, Boubaker J, Ben Sghaier M, Bhouri W, Bouhlel I, Kilani S, Ghedira K, Chekir-Ghedira L (2010b) Assessment of phenolic content, free-radicalscavenging capacity genotoxic and anti-genotoxic effect of aqueous extract prepared from Moricandia arvensis leaves. Food Chem Toxicol 48:710–715 Sobrino-Vesperinas E (1980) Serie cromosomica euploide en el genero Moricandia DC. (Crucifereae). Anal Instit Bot 35:411–416 Takahata Y (1990) Production of interspecific hybrids between a C3-C4 intermediate species Moricandia arvensis and a C3 species Brassica oleracea through ovary culture. Euphytica 46:259–264 Takahata Y, Takeda T (1990) Intergeneric (intersubtribe) hybridization between Moricandia arvensis and Brassica A and Brassica B genome species by ovary culture. Theor Appl Genet 80:38–42 Takahata Y, Takeda T, Kaizuma N (1993) Wide hybridization between Moricandia arvensis and Brassica amphidiploid species (B. napus and B. juncea). Euphytica 69:155–160 Tian ZH, Meng JL (1998) Plant regeneration from cultured protoplasts of Moricandia nitens. Plant Cell Tiss Org Cult 55:217–221 Toriyama K, Hinata K, Kameya T (1987) Production of somatic hybrid plants, Brassicomoricandia, through protoplast fusion between Moricandia arvensis and Brassica oleracea. Plant Sci 48:123–128 Ueno O, Bang SW, Wada Y, Kobayashi N, Kaneko R, Kaneko Y, Matsuzawa Y (2007) Inheritance of C-3-C-4 intermediate

M. Tahir and R. Watts photosynthesis in reciprocal hybrids between Moricandia arvensis (C-3-C-4) and Brassica oleracea(C-3) that differ in their genome constitution. Plant Prod Sci 10:68–79 Warwick S (2005) Phylogeny of tribe Brassiceae based on chloroplast restiction site polymorphism and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer and chloroplast trnL intron sequences. Can J Bot 83:467–483 Warwick SI, Black LD (1997) Phylogenetic implications of chloroplast DNA restriction site variation in subtribes Raphaninae and Cakilinae (Brassicaceae, tribe Brassiceae). Can J Bot 75:960–973 Warwick S, Francis A, Gugel RK (2009) Guide to wild germplasm Brassica and allied crops (tribe Brassiceae). Part III Interspecific and intergenic hybridization data. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). http://www.brassica.info/ info/publications/guide-wild-germplasm.php. Accessed 25 Apr 2010 Winter K, Usuda H, Tsuzuki M, Schmitt M, Edwards GE, Thomas RJ, Evert RF (1982) Influence of nitrate and ammonia on photosynthetic characteristics and leaf anatomy of Moricandia arvensis. Plant Physiol 70:616–625 Yan Z, Tian Z, Huang B, Huang R, Meng J (1999) Production of somatic hybrids between Brassica oleracea and the C3-C4 intermediate species Moricandia nitens. Theor Appl Genet 99:1281–1286 Zenkteler M (1990) In-vitro fertilization of ovules of some species of Brassicaceae. Plant Breed 105:221–228 Zhang C, Xu G, Huang R, Chen C, Meng J (2004) A dominant gdcP-specific marker derived from Moricandia nitens used for introducing the C3-C4 character from M. nitens into Brassica crops. Plant Breed 123:438–443

Chapter 13

Orychophragmus Li Rong Zhou, Jun Wu, and Shenghua Wang

13.1 Introduction The genus Orychophragmus comprises two species, O. violaceus and O. limprichtianus, known as members of the tribe Brassiceae in the family Cruciferae and endemic to China and Korea (Al-Shehbaz and Yang 2000). One of them, O. violaceus, has received a lot of attention. On one hand, it is cultivated as an ornamental plant in the gardens or at the roadside in China due to its beautiful purple flower; on the other hand, it is used in studies on genetics and breeding for oil quality improvement of oilseed crops because of its excellent nature of seedoil since 1980s. In this chapter, we introduce and review the research and utility of O. violaceus as a wild-plant resource for improvements of edible oilseed crops.

stem pinnately divided, lyrate-shaped, with the terminal lobe large and rounded or ovate and the lower lobes much smaller, and the brim has blunt toothed. The upper leaves of stem are sessile, oval, or slightly oval, the top acuta and base auricular and amplexicaul, and the brim has irregular teeth. Its flowers bloom in January to June, fruiting occurs from May through July. The pollination study revealed that O. violaceus is mainly an often cross-pollinated plant (Luo et al. 1991). Its flower is raceme terminal, petals 4, deep purple, lavender, or white, broadly obovate. The fruits are silique, terete, and somewhat 4-angled. Seeds are oblong, with black and brown color, and have the ability of self-sowing (Fig. 13.1).

13.2.2 Taxonomic Position 13.2 Basic Botany 13.2.1 Morphology of O. violaceus The genus Orychophragmus shows atypical morphological characters compared to the remainder of the Brassiceae species (reviewed by Anderson and Warwick 1999; Warwick and Sauder 2005). O. violaceus is an annual or biennial herbaceous plant with a height of 10–50 cm, erect stem, single branch, or base partial branch. The leaves vary greatly in size and form, lowermost leaves and the lower leaves of the

S. Wang (*) College of Life Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China e-mail: [email protected]

Orychophragmus Bunge is a small genus with only two species, O. violaceus and O. limprichtianus as below according to Flora of China (Al-Shehbaz and Yang 2000; Wu 2001a). Note: The data of the following classification are from Wu (2001b): 1a. Cauline leaves auriculate; sepals linear, erect, (6–) 8–13(–16) mm, base of lateral pair strongly saccate; petals deep purple, lavender, or rarely white, (12–) 16–25(–32) mm, apex rounded, claw well differentiated and as long as sepals; anthers linear, (3–) 4–6(–8) mm; style (0.3–) 0.7–3(–5.5) cm ................................................... 1. O. violaceus 2a. Cauline leaves not auriculate; sepals oblong, ascending, 2–3.5 mm, base of lateral pair slightly saccate; petals white, (6–) 7–9 mm, apex shallowly emarginate, claw obscurely differentiated and shorter than sepals; anthers oblong,


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Fig. 13.1 The morphology of O. violaceus: (a) seeds; (b) florescence; and (c) fruits

Table 13.1 The difference in morphology among O. hupehensis, O. taibaiensis, O. diffusus, and O. violaceus Species Shape of leaf Amplexicaul leaves Branch Stem O. violaceus Narrowly ovate or oblongate Amplexicaul leaves A few branches Erect, upward leaves without lobe at the top O. diffusus Cordate or reniform and the Amplexicaul leaves Many branches Diffuse, Underdeveloped tip is blunt at the base O. taibaiensis Cordate or ovoid triangles Not amplexicaul Few branches Erect, upward O. hupehensis Inverse-triangle and apex Not amplexicaul Many branches Erect, underdeveloped acute to acuminate.

1–1.5 mm; style 0.1–0.3 cm ................................... .............................................. 2. O. limprichtianus Because O. violaceus displays a high variability in morphology, its taxonomy has long been a controversial subject, with its variety identification and species status frequently revised. Schulz (1903) recognized one species with five varieties: O. violaceus var. homaeophyllus (Hance) O. E. Schulz; O. violaceus var. hupehensis (Pampanini) O. E. Schulz; O. violaceus var. intermedius (Pampanini) O. E. Schulz; O. violaceus var. lasiocarpus Migo, and O. violaceus var. subintegrifolius (Pampanini) O. E. Schulz, while Tan et al. (1998) identified three additional species: O. taibaiensis Tan & Zhao, O. diffusus Tan & Xu, and O. hupehensis (Pampanini) Tan & Zhang. Among them, O. hupehensis was ever defined as a variety of O. violaceus in Flora of China (Zhou 1987). Later, AlShehbaz and Yang (2000) believed that the variation of O. violaceus did not seem to follow any geographical distribution pattern. Hence they re-amalgamated these (including three additional species proposed by Tan et al. (1998)) into the original species O. violaceus as a highly variable species without any infraspecific taxa. In fact, O. hupehensis, O. taibaiensis, and O. diffusus are different significantly from O. violaceus not

only in morphology (especially in leaf morphology, see Table 13.1), but also in genomes (Table 13.2). Even in O. violaceus as the representative species of the Orychophragmus genus, there exists chromosome differentiation. This implies cryptic speciation in O. violaceus (Zhou et al. 2009a). Furthermore, the molecular phylogenetic results also supported that the groups of O. hupehensis and O. taibaiensis should not be allocated in O. violaceus (Zhou et al. 2009b).

13.2.3 Distribution and Geographical Locations of Genetic Diversity Species of Orychophragmus, as a good ground cover plant, are narrowly distributed in China and Korea, and the main species of this genus O. violaceus, endemic to China, is native to northeastern and north of China with strong cold resistance. Now it widely spreads in the provinces of Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, and Zhejiang, and naturalized in Japan (Al-Shehbaz

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Table 13.2 Somatic chromosome number (2n), base number (n), ploidy level (x), karyotype formula, mean chromosome length (L), and mean length of heterochromatic bands (Het.cr.) of the populations of Orychophragmus investigated Taxa and accessions 2n n(x) Formulaa Karyotype Het.cr. (%) L (m) O. violaceus JJ 24 12(2x) 16m+2msat+4sm+2smsat 2A 0.508 1.7–2.9 O. violaceus HS 24 12(2x) 16m+2msat+4sm+2smsat 2A 0.489 1.3–2.7 O. violaceus SNJ 24 12(2x) 16m+2msat+6sm+2smsat 2A 0.503 1.8–3.1 O. violaceus TS 24 12(2x) 16m+2msat+4sm+2smsat 2B 0.482 1.9–3.7 O. violaceus BJ 24 12(2x) 16m+2msat+4sm+2smsat 2B 0.496 1.6–3.2 O. violaceus CD 24 12(2x) 16m+2msat+4sm+2smsat 2B 0.51 1.6–3.0 O. violaceus CS 24 12(2x) 14m+2msat+6sm+2smsat 2B 0.484 1.3–2.7 O. violaceus NJ 24 12(2x) 14m+2msat+6sm+2smsat 2A 0.481 1.4–3.1 O. violaceus XH 24 12(2x) 14m+2msat+6sm+2smsat 2A 0.49 1.4–2.8 O. taibaiensis JK 24 12(2x) 14m+2msat+6sm+2smsat 2B 0.517 1.2–3.2 O. taibaiensis HP 48 12(4x) 28m+4msat+12sm+4smsat 2B 0.544 0.9–2.7 O. hupehensis WD 22 11(2x) 12m+2msat+6sm+2smsat 2A 0.457 1.6–2.7 O. hupehensis SY 22 11(2x) 12m+2msat+6sm+2smsat 2B 0.455 1.5–2.8 O. hupehensis DJ 22 11(2X) 12m+2msat+8sm 2A 0.447 1.3–2.3 O. diffusus SH 20 10(2X) 10m+2msat+6sm+2smsat 2B 0.417 1.5–3.1 a

m, Metacentric; sm, Submetacentric; and SAT, Satellites

and Yang 2000). O. violaceus often grows by roadsides, in gardens, forests, fields, thickets, valleys, hillsides, and near sea level to 1,300 m. The locations of O. violaceus, O. taibaiensis, and O. hupehensis are not overlapping but neighboring in their distribution (Fig. 13.2). The present phylogenetic reconstruction indicated that the independence of O. hupehensis and O. taibaiensis from O. violaceus has been karyologically paralleled by a differentiation in chromosome number and karyotype asymmetry (Zhou et al. 2009a). Hence they are supposed as additional species (Zhou et al. 2009a) with the characters of approximate triangle, petiolate, and not amplexicaul upmost stem leaves. Wide distribution of O. violaceus brings about high genetic diversity. Morphology, especially leaf morphology, of O. hupehensis, O. taibaiensis, and O. diffusus differ significantly from O. violaceus. O. violaceus and O. diffusus are biennial herbs mostly with ovate leaves. O. violaceus features narrowly ovate or oblongate leaves without lobe and erect stems growing upward, a few branches at the base, and some amplexicaul leaves at the top (Luo et al. 1995a), whereas O. diffusus grows with diffuse caules and many branches at base. All of its leaves are lyrata with serrate edge; the terminal leaf is cordate or reniform and the leaf tip is blunt (Tan et al. 1998). O. taibaiensis and O. hupehensis are annuals and characterized by the uppermost stem leaves having approximate triangle, being petiolate and not amplexicaul. O. taibaiensis is

different from O. hupehensis in that its uppermost stem leaves have slightly pinnate cleavage, cordate, or ovoid triangles with apiculate or obtuse ends, but for O. hupehensis its stem is underdeveloped, with all leaves largely pinnated cleavage, inverse-triangle, and apex acute to acuminate. Similarly, populations of Orychophragmus were habitated in various geographical environments that unfolded its genetic diversity. O. taibaiensis, growing in Mexican region of altitude of 1,150–1,470 m (Mt. Taibai, Shaanxi), possesses the base number 2n ¼ 4x ¼ 48 and 2n ¼ 2x ¼ 24, O. hupehensis (2n ¼ 2x ¼ 22) limited in regions of elevation of 450–1,000 m (Danjiankou to Shiyan of Hubei); the population of x ¼ 10 (O. diffusus) located in shanghai, where altitude is 80 m and climate is much warmer. In the region from the upper and middle Yangtze River to Qin Mountain, the diversity of O. violaceus complex is the richest, including populations with various base numbers, such as x ¼ 11, 12, and tetraploids and becomes less outward (Fig. 13.2). Therefore, this region can be considered as the center of recent differentiation of the O. violaceus complex.

13.2.4 Cytology and Karyotype According to the scanty literature available, Orychophragmus is characterized by the base number x ¼ 12

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Fig. 13.2 Map of the locations of 15 populations of O. violaceus complex and the distribution ranges of different groups. The red dashed line indicates the range of O. hupehensis and O. taibaiensis, the black line indicates the range of O. diffusus and O. violaceus, and the green dashed line indicates the region

of the presumed center of recent differentiation (Zhou et al. 2009a, b). Filled dot represents populations of O. violaceus, filled triangle represents populations of O. hupehensis; Filled diamond represents populations of O. taibaiensis, hollow polygon represents populations of O. diffusus

with O. violaceus being diploid of 2n ¼ 24 in the somatic cells and n ¼ 12 in the gametic cells (Maton 1932; Li et al. 1994b; Lan et al. 1995). The whole set of chromosomes are divided into nine metacentric chromosomes (one SAT chromosome) and three submetacentric chromosomes (one SAT chromosome). The karyotype formula is: 2n ¼ 24 ¼ 18 m (2 SAT) þ 6 sm (2 SAT) (Li et al. 1994a, b; Luo et al. 1995a, b) and showed a gradual decease in the relative length of the chromosomes, the gaps among them being very small (Li et al. 1994a, b). Obviously, the karyotype of O. violaceus belongs to symmetry type 1A–2A (Stebbins 1971). Otherwise, high frequency of B-chromosomes in population of translocation heterozygote was found in root tip cells, derived from A-chromosomes generated by reciprocal translocation (Li et al. 1994a, b).

However, Zhou et al. (2009a) indicated that besides x ¼ 12, Oruchophragmus genus also has other base numbers of genomes x ¼ 10 and 11 and tetraploids (Table 13.2). Correspondingly, the groups with different karyotypes have different morphological characters. The karyotypes of all populations (or species) investigated have symmetry karyotypes with mainly metacentric chromosomes. O. violaceus is comparatively the original type in Brassicaceae, according to the standard of Stebbins (1971). Lan et al. (1995) observed that chromosomes of O. violaceus, from the pachytene to early diakinesis during miosis, often congregate into two chromosome clumps, one with five bivalents (5II) and another with seven bivalents (7II) and believed that O. violaceus may be allotetraploid with two different base numbers of chromosomes, which might originate from a

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wide-cross hybrid with x ¼ 7 and x ¼ 5. But Li and colleagues (Li et al. 1995, 1997c; Li and Liu 1995) believed that O. violaceus may be tetraploid with x ¼ 6 based on chromosome behaviors and configurations in pollen mother cells. This hypothesis was supported by observations based on mitosis of somatic cell and plantlet cell of anther culture (Wu and Luo 1996; Wu et al. 1996b). Recently, the opinion on O. violaceus being tetraploid taxa was powerfully supported by CCP data (Lysak et al. 2007). Additionally, various chromosome configurations, bar-shaped, ring-shaped and cross-shaped bivalents and 8-shaped, ring-shaped, and chain-shaped quadruples appeared in diakinesis caused by chromosome translocations (Lan et al. 1995). Li and Liu (1995) also observed other multivalents in pollen mother cells of O. violaceus, such as hexavalents, octovalents, and decavalents. These showed high homology in the genome of O. violaceus.

13.2.5 Genome Size DNA content was measured by Lysak et al. (2007). 2C value of O. violaceus is 2.944, which is larger than the genome sizes of Brassiceae species with 2n ¼ 14–36 (varying from 1.206 to 1.781). However, no significant correlation between base composition and genome size was found (tested non-parametrically by Spearman’s rho).

13.2.6 Ecological Characters O. violaceus has strong ecological adaptability, for example, cold tolerance, leaves dark green in winter, good shade-endurance with normal growth, blooming, and seed set under some diffused light, so that it widely distributes from north to south, from east to west in China. Moreover, in terms of altitude above sea level, its habitat is also wide from tens of meters to more than 2,000 m altitude. It may grow well in halfshade or sunny environments. It often grows in plain, mountains, and roadside or in forest. It is not strict on soil type and can grow in acidic or alkaline soils. However, in loose, fertile, and deep soil, its

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root system is well developed and can grow well with high output.

13.2.7 Agronomic Characters O. violaceus has good agronomic characters as found by Luo et al. (1991). It has many branches with the number of primary branches between 13.4 and 14.9, more siliques, more seeds per silique (39.0–39.7), more 1,000-seed weight (3.8–3.98 g); more theoretical yield of seeds reaching up to 2,047.5–2,085 kg/ha. It has virtues of resistance to viral disease and aphid. O. violaceus flowers from January to June and is mainly an often cross-pollinated plant species (Luo et al. 1991), fruiting during May through July, with high seed-setting rate of even 100% by natural pollination (Luo et al. 1995a). Seed oil of O. violaceus is high-quality edible oil with high percentage of oleic acids, linoleic acids, and palmic acids and lower percentage of linolenic acids and erucic acids.

13.2.8 Agricultural Status Since O. violaceus not only is green in winter and purple in spring, but also can continue by self-fan and do not need too much maintenance, it is used by a lot of green project, parks, tourist attractions, etc. At present, it is widely planted as flowering ornamental in garden, forest, parks, residential community and highway roadside, etc., and in many cities in north and south of China and has excellent effect of greening and beautification. Furthermore, it was shown that O. violaceus is a potential edible oil crop and a new germplasm source for genetic improvement of Brassica crops, since it has a high seed yield potential and its seed oil has a desirable fatty acid composition, especially nearly zero erucic acid and low linolenic acid contents (Luo et al. 1994a, b). The intergeneric hybridizations between the six cultivated Brassica species in the U-triangle (Nagahara 1935) and O. violaceus were made in order to improve the fatty acid component of the Brassica crops, and the cytogenetic studies have been documented (Li et al. 1995, 1998a, b).

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13.3 Role in Elucidation of Origin and Evolution of Allied Crop Plants The tribe Brassiceae with the distinct characters of pungent or acrid juice, cruciate corolla, tetradynamous stamens, and silique or silicle is one of the few natural entities (Al-Shehbaz 1984) in the Brassicaceae family, and it includes about 240 species under 49–54 genera (Go´mez-Campo 1999; Warwick et al. 2000). Of them, some species are economically important crops (Table 13.3), for example, Brassica napus is one of the world’s fourth major oilseed crops and provides 10% of cooking oils, and Raphanus sativus and Brassica chinensis are widely cultivated as vegetables.

13.3.1 Morphological Traits and Taxonomy Orychophragmus Bunge, as a member of the Brassicaceae family, according to Zhou (1987), was assigned to the tribe Brassiceae that in China contains eight genera including Brassica, Sinapis, Diplotaxis, Eruca, Raphanus, Crambe, Orychophragmus, and Conringia. However, it was excluded by Gomez-Campo (1980), Li et al.

L. Rong Zhou et al.

(1996), and Khosravi et al. (2009) but included again in the tribe Brassiceae by Anderson and Warwick (1999), and Warwick and Sauder (2005). This controversy over taxonomic status of genera and species existed continuously in the Brassiceae family due to the common existence in convergent evolution and reticulate evolution of morphological characters used in systematic classification of plants and in unsynchronized evolution at genus or tribe level of different characters. Obviously, elucidation of the taxonomic status of Orychophragmus is an important basis for developing and utilization of the genus itself as a useful wild plant resource (see Sects. 13.1 and 13.8) and depicting its phylogenetic relationship with the alien crop species. For this, it needs to include more botanical characters to the traditional systematics and taxonomy, including leaf venation, micromorphology, such as indumentum, gland (nectary; Deng and Hu 1995), stomata, and even anatomical characters. For example, leaf venation pattern is nearly the same in plants of the same species and exhibits stability (Nam et al. 2008). Leaf venation character can be used as an evidence for taxonomy of interspecific, intergeneric, and interfamilial classification (Zhang and Xia 2007). By observing the leaf venation characteristics of nine species of six genera of Brassiceae, Liu et al. (2006) suggested that Brassica have a more close relationship to Eruca and Crambe

Table 13.3 Orychophragmus and its some major allied crop plants in tribe Brassiceae Genus Species 2n/1C DNA (pg) Genome Brassica B. nigra 16/0.65 BB B. oleracea 18/0.71 CC B. rapa syn. campestris 20/0.54 AA B. carinata 34/1.31 BBCC B. juncea 36/1.09 AABB B. napus 38/1.15 AACC B. bourgeaui 18 ? B. napobrassica 38 B. alboglabra 18 CC B. chinensis 20 AA B. parachinensis 20 AA B. pekinensis 20 AA B. tournefortii 20/0.60 TT Orychophragmus O. violaceus 24/2.5 OO Raphanus R. salivus 18/0.53 RR Sinapis S. alba 24/0.57 SS Crambe C. kotschyana 30 C. maritima 60 Eruca Eruca sativa 22/0.67 EE Note: Data of 1C DNA amount (pg) are from Lysak et al. (2009)

Economic utility Oilseed, vegetable and condiment Vegetable Oilseed and vegetable Oilseed and vegetable Vegetable Oilseed Vegetable Vegetable Vegetable Vegetable Vegetable Condiment Ornamental, medicinal Vegetable Condiment, medicinal Oilseed Vegetable Vegetable

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than to Conringia, Orychophragmus, and Raphanus and B. oleracea var. acephala might be the comparatively primitive species in Brassica. Recently, Nam et al. (2008) proposed a scheme for similarity-based leaf image retrieval not only to save time and energy but also to increase the efficiency.

13.3.2 Biochemical Techniques and Systematics A morphological trait, after all, is the last comprehensive appearances of metabolic activities controlled by a variety of genes. Morphotaxonomy is more sensitive and less accurate than biochemical and molecular systematics to elucidate the origin and evolution in the Brassicaceae family. Biochemical markers might constitute a feasible approach for studying the genetic relationship among species, and this approach has benefited more in cases of animals than plants. Anderson and Warwick (1999) claimed, based on the variation of isozyme patterns in the tribe Brassiceae, that Orychophragmus should be included in the tribe Brassiceae and Calepina and Conringia should be excluded. However, biochemical systematics would be more successful for taxonomy of Brassicaceae family if the biochemical markers are

extended, which in the current uses were the isozymes mainly involved in carbohydrate metabolism, such as development of protein production of supergene families related to growth and development of plant. Selection of protein productions of family genes linking 2D-electrophoresis and immunoprecipitation techniques perhaps plays some beneficial effects. Chemotaxonomy. Although there are some research works on chemotaxonomy of Orychophragmus and Brassica, respectively (Tsukamoto et al. 1993; Tang et al. 1996), little research was done on the chemotaxonomic comparison of Orychophragmus and its allied crops.

13.3.3 Molecular Biology and Evolution Molecular biological methods are widely believed as the best effective strategy for plant taxonomy and relationship among species. For all that, appropriate selection and discovery of molecular straits are very important. The molecular straits here are defined as the independent and indicable fragments of DNA or genome (Table 13.4). The molecular marker techniques, such as restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLPs), simple sequence repeat (SSR), intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR), microsatellites,

Table 13.4 The cp DNA fragments in molecular systematics Gene or DNA fragments Main application scope cpDNA fragment RbcL Genera, family MatK TrnL, intron, and trnL-F intergenic region NdhF

Intergeneric and interspecific relationship in family Interrelated family, subfamily stribe or genus In family or interfamily

AtpB

Genera, family

References Xiang et al. (1993); Sehwarzbach and Rieklefs (2000); Sosa and Chass (2003) Plunkett et al. (1997); Hu et al. (2000) Clegg et al. (1994); Downie et al. (2000b) Scotland et al. (1995); Clark et al. (1995); Smith et al. (1997) Soltis et al. (1999)

Mitochondria CoxI Nad5 MatR AtpA

Taxa above genus Taxa above family

Malek et al. (1996); Bowe et al. (2000) Wang et al. (2000) Qiu et al. (1999); Meng et al. (2002) Davis et al. (1998, 2004)

Nuclear genome 18s rRNA ITS (18S rDNA – 5.8S rDNA – 26S rDNA)

Family and above family Phylogeny and taxonomy of family, subfamily, stribe, genus, and group

Soltis et al. (1997) Baldwin (1993); Baun et al. (1994); Downie et al. ´ lvarez and Wendef (2003) (2000a); A

Taxa above family

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amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP), and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), are widely used for analysis of phylogenetic relationship among species. Wang et al. (2005) believed that through analyzing the phylogenetic relationship among 11 species of six genera in Cuciferae, CYP86M F gene, a member of cytochrome P450 supergene family, is applicable to genus taxon because of its lower differences of nucleotide and amino acid sequences between species than genera. Ding et al. (2007) presented that S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase activity (SAMDC), a key enzyme involved in biosynthesis of the polyamines, viz. spermidine and spermine, is also feasible marker for elucidating the relationship among crucifer species. More recently, the ITS region and trnL intron are prevailing in phylogenetic analyses of the Brassicaceae (Warwick et al. 2002, 2004; Koch et al. 2003). The base for inclusion of Orychophragmus in tribe Brassiceae by Warwick and Sauder (2005) was that it shared monophyletic origin with Brassiceae revealed by comparison analysis of the cpDNA and ITS and ITS/trnL sequence data. Based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of ITS/5.8S and matK sequences, Zhou et al. (2009a) indicated the exclusion of O. hupehensis and O. tabaiensis from O. violaceus but inclusion of O. diffusus in Orychophragmus. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) provides alternative measure with intuitively detecting and localizing interested genes or sequences in chromosome, analysis of chromosome structure variation (Nath and Johnson 2000). Many new techniques have been currently derived from it, such as multicolor-FISH, comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), genomic in situ hybridization (GISH), chromosomal in situ suppression (CISS), bacterial artificial chromosome-fluorescent in situ hybridization (BAC-FISH), chromosome painting (CP), comparative chromosome painting (CCP), and reverse chromosome painting (RCP). GISH has been widely used for the comparison of genetic relationship between species and detection of introgressed chromosome fragment and the origin and evolution of species (Schwarzacher et al. 1992; Hua and Li 2006). CCP began to be used to the origin and evolution of Brassiceae (Lysak et al. 2005, 2007). Lysak et al. (2007) believed that O. violaceus is a tetraploid taxon sharing the same ancestor with Brassiceae and represents a bridge between the diploid Calepina/Conringia lineage and the hexaploid Brassiceae.

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Brassica is a polyploid complex comprising diploidy and tetraploidy, which covers many economically important crops. The evolution and relationships between members of the genus Brassica can be elucidated with the U-triangle (Nagahara 1935). The hybridization results between Brassica species and O. violaceus and behaviors of their hybrids indicated that O. violaceus has not undergone the Brassiceaespecific triplication event (Lysak et al. 2007).

13.4 Role in the Development of Cytogenetic Stocks and Their Utility Until now, the intergeneric crossing of O. violaceus with alien plants in Brassiceae tribe performed mainly in oilseed crops aims at improving seed oil quality. Distant genetic relationship of O. violaceus and Brassica species has often led to unsuccessful hybridization between them because of the reproductive barrier. But the development of hybrid progenies is effectively stimulated by ovary culture and embryo rescue (Li et al. 1995, 2000; Wang et al. 2008). These hybrid progenies are extremely unstable (Comai 2000) and produce a wide separation profile, for instance, various Brassica aneuploids, including alien additions, substitutions and hypoploids, and create novel species, which makes possible to stimulate basic research on genome structures and phylogenetic relationship of Brassica and to the improvement of crop output and quality. Hence, distant hybridization between O. violaceus and alien cultivated crops in crucifer family is an effective approach to construct various alien crop stocks for genetic analysis.

13.4.1 Mixoploid Hybrids from Distant crosses of O. violaceus The F1 hybrids of O. violaceus and its cultivated alien Brassica crop species are almost mixoploid (Li and Ge 2007; Zhao et al. 2008). The U-triangle Brassica species are derived from the different combinations of three different genomes (A- B- and C-genome; Nagahara 1935). The difference

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of these genomes controlling chromosomes behaviors results in the diversity of chromosome composition in hybrid cells of O. violaceus with Brassica species (Li and Ge 2007), some cells possess both parental chromosome complements, such as the hybrids of B. oleracea (2n ¼ 18, CC) with O. violaceus (2n ¼ 24, OO) containing 21 chromosomes; some cells possess chromosomes from only one parent and other cells possess complete and incomplete genome from one parent and some additional chromosomes from another parent (Li et al. 1998a, b; Li and Heneen 1999).

13.4.2 Developments of Aneuploids from O. violaceus with Alien Crops Apart from the types with similarity to crop chromosomal structures, the mixoploid hybrids of O. violaceus with alien oilseed crops will separate many types of offsprings with different chromosomal constitutions in the following generations, leading to the production of various genetic stocks, including hypoploids, alien substitution and addition lines, trisomics, double trisomics and double tetrasomics through different assembling strategies of crosses, such as seilfing or backcrossing, and selections for several generations.

13.4.2.1 Alien Chromosome Addition and Substitution Plants Alien substitution and addition lines, i.e., intergeneric aneuploids, were separated from the mixoploid hybrids of cultivated Brassica species. The chromosomes of O. violaceus were easy to be identified due to the characteristics of its chromosome sizes and morphology (Li and Ge 2007), such as more darker and condensed chromosomes (Xu et al. 2007a, b). Researches reported that the mixoploid hybrid (2n ¼ 30–42) of B. juncea (2n ¼ 36) with O. violaceus produced some substitution lines with 1–4 pairs of additional chromosomes of O. violaceus, and some lines with additional chromosomes of O. violaceus (Li et al. 2003). Some substitution plants with 1–3 pairs of chromosomes from O. violaceus were also produced from mixoploid hybrids (2n ¼ 29–34) of B. carinata (2n ¼ 34) with O. violaceus (Li et al. 2003). Liu and Li (2007) reported again that they had

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obtained Brassica juncea–Orychophragmus violaceus addition and substitution lines. The same hybridizations performed at different times might obtain different mixoploid profiles, for example, research group of Li at the Huazhong Agricultural University reported in 1995 that mixoploid hybrids (2n ¼ 12, 19, 24, 31, and 38) with fertility derived from B. napus with O. violaceus produced two kinds of progenies: a high percentage of parental B. napus (84–95%) and a low percentage of mixoploid offsprings (5–16%), while Cheng et al. (2002) found that the F1 plants from the same hybridization might be classified into three groups: one had 2n ¼ 29 chromosomes with 9.2–11.7% O. violaceus-specific RAPD fragments, two had 2n ¼ 35, 36, and 37 chromosomes, and the 3rd group had 2n ¼ 19, 37, 38, and 39 chromosomes. Both 2nd and 3rd group had no O. violaceus-specific RAPD fragments. This phenomenon observed by Cheng et al. (2002) was substantiated by Li’s group (Hua and Li 2006).

13.4.2.2 Hypoploids Naturally, hypoploids (nullisomics, monosomics, and hyperploids as trisomics, tetrasomics) are obtained from the mixoploid plants with 2n less one parental chromosome number, too. The case of Brassica species hypoploids was from the hybrids of O. violaceus with B. napus. From one F4 hybrid (2n ¼ 50, AACCO) population, Wu et al. (2004d) identified three monosomic plants (2n ¼ 37) with different morphology and fertility. One of these three monosomics grew vigorous and the unpaired small chromosome had no negative effects on plant development. Accordingly, it can produce nullisomic lines through selfing. Besides that, they also found four types of hypoploid plants with 29–32 chromosomes from the progenies of P3 (aneuploids) with 41–44 chromosomes.

13.4.2.3 Other Aneuploids from Mixoploid Hybrids of O. violaceus with Brassica Alien Crops Hua et al. (2006b) reported that the new materials with 2n ¼ 39, 40, and 42 were obtained after one offspring plant with 2n ¼ 42 and no O. violaceus chromosome

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was backcrossed to B. napus. This offspring without O. violaceus was derived from in vitro microspore culture of mixoploid hybrid (2n ¼ 19–37) between B. napus and O. violaceus. Obviously, these new materials are trisomics, double trisomics, and double tetrasomics of B. napus, because chromosome pairing patterns in pollen mother cells (PMCs) were 19II þ 1I, 19II þ 2I, and 19II þ 2II at diakinesis.

13.4.3 Approaches to Produce Brassica Aneuploids Several routes are used to construct aneuploids for genetic analysis. The first one is conventional sexual cross. Aneuploids are produced by cross-synthesizing alloploids and then selfing or backcrossing accompanied by oriental selection of generations. This is the most commonly used approach for effective construction of cytogenetic stocks. For instance, Xu et al. (2007a) reported that many novel lines with 2n ¼ 36–40 and without intact O. violaceus chromosomes detected by GISH were established from the mixoploid hybrids (2n ¼ 23–42) with partial fertility from the cross between B. rapa (2n ¼ 20, AA) and O. violaceus (2n ¼ 24, OO) through successive selection for fertility and viability. These lines showed high productivity, a wide phenotypic spectrum, and obvious variations of fatty acid profiles in seed oil and glucosinolate contents in seed meal. The second is somatic hybridization. Somatic hybridization between untreated and X- or g-irradiated protoplasts is helpful to the transfer of partial genomes (Gupta et al. 1984; Bates et al. 1987). Successful cases in this asymmetric somatic cell fusion as well as symmetric cell fusion have been provided by (Hu et al. 2002; Mei et al. 2003; and Zhao et al. 2008). Additionally, gametosomatic hybridization may be an alternative approach of cell fusions for development of alloploid cytogenetic stocks of Brassica. Li et al. (1994a, b) had successfully documented pollen-somatic protoplast fusion in Brassica. O. violaceus has a strong ability for in vitro plantlet regeneration (see Sect. 13.5). Wiegand et al. (1995) had ever attempted in the Brassiceae to produce alien addition and substitution lines of B. napus by gametosomatic hybridization.

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The hybrid progenies will recover the fertility through successive selection for fertility and viability (Xu et al. 2007a).

13.4.4 Theoretical Basis of Aneuploids In hybrids of O. violaceus as paternal parent and Brassica species as maternal parent (very difficult to success in reciprocal crosses), cytological events, including genome doubling, complete or partial separation of genome, elimination of chromosomes, DNA fragment introgression, changes, and recombination, often occur in cell cycles (Li et al. 1995, 1998a, b; Li and Heneen 1999; Hua et al. 2006a, b; Ma et al. 2006; Li and Ge 2007). These events can appear in mitosis and meiosis from zygote development to reproductive process (Li and Liu 2001). If parental genome doubling and separation of chromosomes accompanied by partial elimination of O. violaceus chromosomes occur, substitute lines and hyperploids including addition lines can be established. On the contrary, hypopids, monosomic, double monosomic and nullisomic can be established if parental genome doubling and separation of chromosomes accompanied by complete elimination of O. violaceus chromosomes occur (Li and Ge 2007). Hua et al. (2006a) reported that some mixoploid F1 (2n ¼ 34) only contains B. carinata maternal chromosome complement, implying B. carinata genome doubling and elimination of the entire O. violaceus chromosome complement. However, for all that, some O. violaceus-specific AFLP bands and new bands were detected in the leaves of F1 plants; some F2 plants that were predominantly like B. carinata showed some O. violaceus’s traits, brown seed coat, and the purple color. Obviously, some introgression of O. violaceus genetic substances took place in hybrid offsprings that provides the theoretical basis for minor improvement of good oil crop variety. Hence, the cytological events at the whole chromosomal level in hybrid cells are also accompanied by DNA fragment recombination and introgression, producing Brassica type plants with modified genetic constitutions and phenotypes (Liu and Li 2007). Wu and Luo (1996) also reported that plantlets regenerated from cultured ahther of O. violaceus were also mixoploid. This type of mixoploid comprises only cells with different numbers of O. violaceus chromosome,

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suggesting O. violaceus’s polyploidy property and the possibility of aneuploids of O. violaceus.

13.4.5 Transfer of Other Genomes to Brassica Crops Until now, in the Brassica genetics and breeding researches, the attention is mainly focused on the behaviors of nuclear genomes from hybridization parents, while the behaviors and effects of other two genomes of parents, mitochondrial genome and chloroplast genome, on hybrid progenies, are also worth studying. The inheritance and role of organelle genomes from Orychophragmus can be explored by asymmetric fusion of Orychophragmus protoplast X-ray or g-ray irradiation.

13.5 Role in Classical and Molecular Genetic Studies 13.5.1 Chromosome Behavior of O. violaceus and Their Role The meiosis process of pollen mother cell of O. violaceus is similar to B. napus and other allied crops, but its chromosomal behavior also has its own traits. The bivalents in diakinesis present circle and club-shaped, etc. Moreover, chromosomal configurations vary in this period. For example, some appear as shapes of “8,” some as circles, and some as catenulate quadruples. These configuration series may reflect chromosomal

reciprocal translocation. Additionally, polymorphism of the number and shape of nucleolus also appeared (Luo et al. 1995a, b). Due to the peculiar behaviors of O. violaceus chromosomes and its distant relationship to Brassiceae species and because of some possible hybridization compatibility factors unknown, hybridization between O. violaceus and allied species, including somatic hybridization, only can get a few seeds. These hybrid seeds with rich genetic base often show the abnormal phenomena: univalents, precocious chromosome migration to the poles, laggard and micronucleus at anaphase/telophase II, tetrads with some microcytes and I, extra division of tetrad or microspore, and parental genome separation and thus produce diversity of genetic structures and more available information or new materials for theoretical genetic research. Intergeneric hybrids derived from O. violaceus as parent often consist of mixoploidy cells (mixture of diploid and polyploid cell; Table 13.5). For example, somatic tissue of F 1 plants from the cross B. napus L. (AACC, 2n ¼ 38) O. violaceus were mixoploid, consisting of haploid (2n ¼ 2x ¼ 19) and diploid cells (2n ¼ 4x ¼ 38) of B. napus as well as hybrid cells (2n ¼ 31; Li et al. 1995). Genome doubling and chromosome elimination by separate, complete, and partial elimination of parental chromosomes change ploidy level of some genomes in the offsprings of distant hybridization, such as the intergeneric hybrids of B. napus O. violaceus (Cheng et al. 2002). Even though there is no change in chromosome number, ploidy level of some genomic fragments can also change due to exchange and translocation. Ge and Li (2006) and Sakhno et al. (2007) found no chromosome replication and nuclear fusions

Table 13.5 Wide crosses of O. violaceus (OO, 2n ¼ 24) as male parent Female parent Hybrids B. napus (2n ¼ 38, AACC) F1: 2n ¼ 19, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 B. alboglabra (2n ¼ 18, CC) B. juncea (2n ¼ 36, AABB)

F1: 2n ¼ 21 F1: 2n ¼ 12–43

B. carinata (2n ¼ 34, BBCC) B. oleracea (2n ¼ 18, CC) B. nigra (2n ¼ 16, BB)

F1 ¼ 12–35 F1: 2n ¼ 21 F1: 2n ¼ 17–26, 11–17 and 14–17 F1: 2n ¼ 23–42 F1: 2n ¼ 22 F1: 2n ¼ 23–42

B. campestris (2n ¼ 20, AA) B. chinensis (2n ¼ 20, AA) B. rapa (2n ¼ 20, AA)

References Luo et al. (1994b); Li et al. (1995, 1996); Wu et al. (1997a, b, c); Cheng et al. (2002); Hu et al. (2002); Mei et al. (2003) Yin et al. (1998); Luo et al. (2000b) Li et al. (1997a, b, c, 1998a, 2002, 2003); Lin et al. (2005a); Xu et al. (2007a, b) Li et al. (1998b, 2002); Hua et al. (2006) Li et al. (1998b) Li and Heneen (1999) Li and Heneen (1999) Wu et al. (1996a, b, c) Li and Ge (2007)

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in the nuclei of tetrads produced by wide hybrids between an artificially synthesized Brassica allohexaploid (2n ¼ 54, AABBCC) and O. violaceus (OO). They reported that they have obtained phosphinothricinresistant intergeneric hybrids through somatic hybridization between B. napus and O. violaceus transformed by the Bar gene. Hence, wide cross of O. violaceus and other allied species can provide more novel materials for genetic studies. Because of its high-quality seed oil, O. violaceus was used to improve the fatty acid profile of Brassica crops through intergeneric hybridization (see Sect. 13.6). During the process of practicing for transfer of the favorable traits of Orychophragmus to oilseed crops, discovery of the arcanum of controlling these favorable traits is a necessary work through genetics and molecular means.

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could be as explant for in vitro culture (Table 13.6). Its advantages showed the following four aspects.

13.5.2.1 Strong Plantlet Regeneration In Vitro Explants from various parts of O. violaceus can propagate and regenerate plantlets with over 78% success (Luo et al. 1996) under cultured conditions (Table 13.6). Furthermore, the explants stimulated by different combinations of phytohormones may give rise to intact plants through several pathways including direct organogenesis, indirect organogenesis, somatic embryogenesis, and indirect somatic embryogenesis. Of them somatic embryogenesis was originated from single-cell, similar to zygotic embryogenesis (Zhang and Luo 1995).

13.5.2 In Vitro Culture and Transformation of O. violaceus

13.5.2.2 An Ideal Material for Protoplast Culture

The plants of Orychophragmus have strong regeneration capacity. Since Pan and Huang (1986) first reported successful plantlets regeneration from O. violaceus flower buds, nearly every part of O. violaceus plant

The protoplasts from petiole and mesophyll or hypocotyl and cotyledon of O. violaceus had high capacity for plant regeneration in culture with over 40% division frequency and 100% regeneration frequency

Table 13.6 Tissue cultures from different explants of O. violaceus References Explants Regeneration pathwaysa Organ culture Leaves IO, DSE Xu and Xu (1987); Zhang and Luo (1995); Wu et al. (2004b, c) Petiole ISE, DSE Xu and Xu (1987); Zhang and Luo (1995); Wu et al. (2004b, c) Hypocotyl DO, IO, DSE Zhang and Luo (1995); Chen et al. (2001) Cotyledon DO, DSE Zhang and Luo (1995); Luo et al. (1996); Zhou et al. (1996a) Flower bud, flower stalk IO Pan and Huang (1986) Rachis DO Ye and Lan (1998) Petal, sepal and filament IO Ye and Lan (1998) Anthers DSE Luo et al. (1996); Wu and Luo (1996); Wu et al. (2000) Receptacle DO, ISE Zhang and Luo (1994); Luo et al. (1996); Ye and Lan (1998) Pollen ISE Jia et al. (1999) Embryo ISE Wu et al. (1996a, b, c) Protoplast culture Mesophyll C-SE? Xu and Xu (1988); Hu et al. (1999) Hypocotyl, cotyledon IO or ISE Luo et al. (1996); Zhou et al. (1996a, b) Petiole IO Luo and Luo (1992) Flower induction Seedling Luo et al. (1998a, b, c, 2000) in vitro Receptacle, pedicel Zhang et al. (1999) In vitro maturation of microspores Zhao et al. (2007b) a IO, Regeneration of explants through organogenesis from callus; DO, Regeneration of direct organogenesis from explants; ISE, Regeneration of explants through somatic embryogenesis from callus; and DSE, Regeneration of direct organogenesis from explants

13 Orychophragmus

(Xu and Xu 1988; Luo and Luo 1992; Luo et al. 1996; Zhou et al. 1996a; Hu et al. 1999). 13.5.2.3 In Vitro Flower Induction Zhang et al. (1999) reported that flower was directly induced from receptacle and pedicel and this potency continued to be stable under artificial conditions. This means that some molecules controlling flower development exist in receptacle and pedicel that are remembered and transferred in one mode or the other. However, this memory is wiped out if the cultural conditions changes, receptacle and pedicel dedifferentiate into callus and then re-differentiate into plantlets (Zhang and Luo 1994; Luo et al. 1996; Ye and Lan 1998). Besides, germinating seeds treated by low temperature 5–7 C for 7 days and cultured with the medium containing GA3 (gibberellic acid 3) do not undergo vegetative growth but undergo reproductive growth, giving rise to flowers (Luo et al. 1998c). 13.5.2.4 In Vitro Maturation of Microspores Microspores isolated from O. violaceus developed into mature pollen with bio-function under controlled conditions (Zhao et al. 2007a, b). This initiated a novel possibility for the development of male gamete and male gametophyte and deciphering their gene regulation under artificial conditions and suggesting possibility of gene transfer through the male gametophyte. Hence, O. violaceus may be an excellent model plant in Cruciferace for plant cell and tissue culture. This characteristic is very helpful to basic and applied research including genetics and breeding.

13.5.3 Genetic Transformation Based on the established regeneration system, Agrobacterium-mediated transformation protocols for O. violaceus cotyledons and hypocotyls were developed, with the transformation frequency over 5% (Zhou et al. 1996a, 1997). Moreover, the PEG-mediated transformation using hypocotyl protoplasts of O. violacues (Zhou et al. 1996c) was also documented. Thus, it provides a new possibility for genetic improvement of O. violaceus and carries forward research on molecular

211

mechanism related to lipid metabolism and agronomic traits. Sakhno et al. (2007) identified hybrids resistant to phosphinothricin (PPT) from transformed O. violaceus through somatic hybridization with B. napus.

13.5.4 Other Characters of O. violaceus O. violaceaus has also strong resistance against aphid and Downy mildew. But O. violaceaus still has some disadvantages, such as weak resistance to Sclerotium disease and it also can be used to study the biological characteristics and pathogenesis of pathogens. Additionally, O. violaceus is a host plant for cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV). Its protoplast is often used to study the interaction between virus promoter sequence and translation initiation of mRNA in planta (Gordon et al. 1992; F€utterer et al. 1996; Pooggin et al. 2000).

13.6 Role in Crop Improvement Through Traditional and Advanced Tools B. napus (AACC, 2n ¼ 38) is one of the most widely cultivated rapeseed crop species in the Crucifer family (Brassicaceae) over the world, providing 10% of edible oil for human beings. However, long-term and large-scale cultivation of this single species resulted in a depleted gene pool of oilseed crops, which is not desired for breeding for edible oil as it targets for high oleic acid, low saturated fatty acids and linolenic acid and

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Oilseeds

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Millets and Grasses

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Cereals

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Forest Trees

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Temperate Fruits

Wild Crop Relatives. Genomic and Breeding Resources: Industrial Crops

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Plantation and Ornamental Crops

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Legume Crops and Forages

Cultivated plants and their wild relatives

Oilseeds (Genome Mapping and Molecular Breeding in Plants)

Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Sunflower (Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Crop Plants)

Molecular Marker Systems in Plant Breeding and Crop Improvement

Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Sugarcane (Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Crop Plants)

Genetics, Genomics, and Breeding of Soybean (Genetics, Genomics, and Breeding of Crop Plants)

Genetic Resources, Chromosome Engineering, and Crop Improvement: Oilseed Crops, Volume 4 (Genetic Resources, Chromosome Engineering, and Crop Improvement)

Genetic resources, chromosome engineering, and crop improvement: Vegetable crops

Genetic resources, chromosome engineering, and crop improvement: Forage crops

Crop Wild Relative Conservation and Use (Cabi Publishing)

Introgression from genetically modified plants into wild relatives

Genomic Imprinting

Helly's theorem and its relatives

Polyploidy and Crop Improvement

Breeding Boas And Pythons

Plant Breeding and Biotechnology

Crop Ferality and Volunteerism

Genomic Imprinting: Methods and Protocols

Genomic Disorders: The Genomic Basis of Disease

Genomic Signal Processing and Statistics

Genomic Imprinting. Methods and Protocols

Genomic Imprinting Methods and Protocols

Genomic Imprinting: Methods and Protocols

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Oilseeds

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Millets and Grasses

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Cereals

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Forest Trees

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Temperate Fruits

Wild Crop Relatives. Genomic and Breeding Resources: Industrial Crops

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Plantation and Ornamental Crops

Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources: Legume Crops and Forages

Cultivated plants and their wild relatives

Oilseeds (Genome Mapping and Molecular Breeding in Plants)

Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Sunflower (Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Crop Plants)

Molecular Marker Systems in Plant Breeding and Crop Improvement

Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Sugarcane (Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Crop Plants)

Genetics, Genomics, and Breeding of Soybean (Genetics, Genomics, and Breeding of Crop Plants)

Genetic Resources, Chromosome Engineering, and Crop Improvement: Oilseed Crops, Volume 4 (Genetic Resources, Chromosome Engineering, and Crop Improvement)

Genetic resources, chromosome engineering, and crop improvement: Vegetable crops

Genetic resources, chromosome engineering, and crop improvement: Forage crops

Crop Wild Relative Conservation and Use (Cabi Publishing)

Introgression from genetically modified plants into wild relatives

Genomic Imprinting

Helly's theorem and its relatives

Polyploidy and Crop Improvement

Breeding Boas And Pythons

Plant Breeding and Biotechnology

Crop Ferality and Volunteerism

Genomic Imprinting: Methods and Protocols

Genomic Disorders: The Genomic Basis of Disease

Genomic Signal Processing and Statistics

Genomic Imprinting. Methods and Protocols

Genomic Imprinting Methods and Protocols

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